UC-NRLF 


GIFT   OF 
Professor  Lehman 


SKETCHES 

OF 

AMERICA 

AND 

AMERICANS 


BY 

GEORGE  I.  HAIGHT 


1920 

HANSON  ROACH  FOWLER  CO. 
CHICAGO 


EI79 


"  A  Y    \      1 


M"' 

oU. 


.  •  .  •  Hanspn  ftoach  F 


TO  MY  WIFE 


999015 


Preface 

/TTYHERE  is  no  country  whose  story  is  more  inter- 
JL  esting  than  that  of  our  own  United  States.  To 
the  student  of  history,  America  offers  a  most  fertile 
field.  Our  annals  ought  to  appeal  deeply  to  all  of 
our  citizens.  From  a  wider  popular  acquaintance 
with  our  past  will  come  a  better  understanding  of 
our  institutions,  a  clearer  idea  of  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  Americans  and  their  foundation,  a 
wider  appreciation  of  the  cost  of  the  citizenship  we 
enjoy,  and  a  deeper  conception  of  our  duties  in  cher 
ishing  and  preserving  our  inheritance. 

In  the  American  narratives,  thousands  of  men 
and  women  appear  who  were  leaders  in  great  ac 
complishments.  Some  were  partly  or  wholly  ap 
preciated  by  their  contemporaries;  many  were  not 
generally  known  or  understood.  Among  all  of  these 
are  multitudes  of  heroes.  In  a  country's  heroes 
can  be  found  the  measure  of  that  country's  ideals. 
More  than  this,  by  a  knowledge  of  heroes  ideals  can 
be  created  and  stimulated. 

To  arouse,  though  only  in  small  measure,  an  in 
terest  in  the  heroic  and  vital  of  America,  these 
short  essays  are  written.  Their  fields  are  very 
small.  None  is  complete,  either  as  biography  or 
history.  All  relate  to  subjects  and  events  that  are 
widely  known.  If  they  command  attention  suffi 
cient  to  induce  further  particular  study  by  those 
to  whom  any  element  of  novelty  is  presented,  or  by 


PREFACE 


those  to  whom  they  serve  only  as  small  reminders 
of  the  greater  fields  from  which  they  are  drawn, 
they  will  have  succeeded  to  the  full  limit  of  the 
author's  purpose. 

G.  I.  H. 


The  story  of  the  Alamo  is  of  men 
who,  rather  than  yield  to  a  tyrant, 
fought  valiantly  under  terrific  odds 
and  died  in  defense  of  their  natural 
rights. 


The  Alamo 


"Then  came  Santa  Anna;  a  crescent  of  flame! 

Then  the  red  escalade;  then  the  fight  hand  to  hand; 
Such  an  unequal  fight  as  never  had  name 

Since  the  Persian  hordes  butchered  that  doomed  Spar 
tan    band. 
All  day,— all  day  and  all  night;  and  the  morning?  so  slow, 

Through   the  battle   smoke  mantling   the   Alamo. 

"Now  silence!    Such  silence!    Two  thousand  lay  dead 
In  a  crescent  outside!     And  within?     Not  a  breath 

Save  the  gasp  of  a  woman,  with  gory  gashed  head, 
All  alone,  all  alone  there,  waiting  for  death; 

And  she  but  a  nurse.     Yet  when  shall  we  know 
Another  like  this  of  the  Alamo?" 

— Joaquin   Miller. 

IN  the  heart  of  the  city  of  San  Antonio,  Texas, 
an  old  mission  lifts  its  scarified  walls.  "The 
Cottonwood"  is  the  English  translation  of  its  pres 
ent  name.  To  the  Spanish  monks  who  built  it  two 
centuries  ago  it  was  known  as  the  Mission  of  San 
de  Valero.  It  was  afterwards  called,  and  is  now 
known  to  every  American,  as  "The  Alamo." 

It  is  approached  along  a  busy  street,  where  a 
part  of  the  old  enclosure  wall  is  still  standing.  One 
passes  through  the  door  of  the  church  as  reverently 
as  if  called  there  by  a  profound  religious  appeal. 
Within  is  silence.  The  few  casual  visitors  move 
noiselessly  over  the  dirt  and  gravel  floor.  The 
sounds  of  clanging  cars  and  the  busy  bustle  of  the 
street  are  unheard. 


THE  ALAMO 


Down  the  length  of  the  building  is  the  spot  where 
once  the  chancel  stood.  How  little  need  that  it 
should  be  there  now,  for  every  stone  is  an  altar  in 
this  great  American  shrine.  To  the  left  of  the 
entrance  stood  the  old  doors,  rudely  carved  of  na 
tive  oak.  They  yielded  to  the  early  zealots;  the 
hands  of  Indians  have  piously  touched  them;  they 
show  the  battering  marks  of  Santa  Anna's  soldiers. 
Behind  these  stout  old  doors  once  a  little  band  of 
stouter  hearts  had  gloriously  fought  and  died. 

One  enters  the  little  room  where  in  the  early 
spring  of  1836  James  Bowie  lay  sick.  The  white 
walls  that  once  had  enclosed  him  arch  over  in  proud 
silence.  In  the  opposite  room,  he  breathed  out  his 
soul  with  his  deadly  knife  clutched  in  his  hands  and 
dead  enemies  piled  about  him.  Here  it  was  that 
Davy  Crockett  fell,  his  rifle,  "Old  Betsy,"  a  gift 
from  admirers  in  Philadelphia,  with  him.  How 
many  times  had  it  in  that  immortal  siege  sent  its 
hurtling  death  when  gently  pressed  by  the  steady 
finger  of  its  master! 

Crossing  the  church  again,  there  is  found  another 
thick-walled  room,  the  old  burial  place  of  the  priests. 
Many  of  their  skeletons  have  been  removed,  but 
underneath  the  earthen  floor  is  much  of  their  dust, 
now  trampled  over  by  the  curious  multitude.  An 
old  font  is  cut  here  in  one  of  the  walls,  but  no  holy 
water  is  now  in  it.  The  empty  chalice  remains  as 
a  memorial  of  the  fingers  that  have  touched  its 
edge — fingers  once  held  aloft  when  "dust  to  dust" 


THE  ALAMO 


was  said,  and  now  mingled  with  the  soil  beneath  the 
visitors'  feet. 

The  adjacent  room  has  been,  in  turn,  sacristy  and 
munition  magazine.  Now  it  holds  no  cowl  or  sur 
plice,  no  shot  or  powder. 

In  the  body  of  the  church  the  walls  are  hung 
with  pictures  and  mementos.  A  letter  of  Davy 
Crockett,  a  picture  of  Bowie,  and  one  of  Sam  Hous 
ton  are  there.  An  old  cannon,  pistol  and  rifles  are 
among  the  trophies,  but  nowhere  is  to  be  found  the 
silver  mounted  "Old  Betsy."  As  far  as  is  known, 
no  hand  ever  pointed  it  again,  no  keen  eye  again 
looked  along  its  barrel  when  Crockett's  nerveless 
arm  loosed  its  hold. 

Near  the  front  of  the  church  the  visitor  is  shown 
where  Colonel  Travis  drew  his  dead  line. 

What  a  scene  this  pile  once  witnessed!  What  a 
story  its  bullet-spattered  and  cannon-scarred  walls 
tell!  "Thermopylae  had  its  messenger  of  defeat. 
The  Alamo  had  none."  Nevertheless,  the  story  of 
its  siege  as  it  was  gathered  from  mute  memorials 
and  from  the  lips  of  its  defenders'  enemies  cannot 
be  dimmed  in  the  annals  of  heroic  defenses. 

The  war  of  Texan  independence  was  a  success 
ful  struggle  for  the  maintenance  of  those  rights 
with  which  men  are  endowed  by  birth.  At  the  in 
vitation  of  Mexico,  Americans  had  settled  on  the 
prairies  of  the  province  of  Texas.  These  pioneers 
had  come  there  on  the  understanding  that  they 
would  enjoy  all  the  rights  guaranteed  those  within 


THE  ALAMO 


the  confines  of  Mexico  by  the  Constitution  of  1824. 
Santa  Anna,  the  usurper,  had  denied  those  rights. 
The  men  from  the  North  were  unhesitatingly  ready 
to  fight  for  their  liberty.  In  the  war  that  followed 
many  heroic  deeds  were  done,  deeds  that  thrill  us 
now  in  the  recounting.  The  massacre  at  Goliad 
will  never  be  forgotten.  Men  will  always  remem 
ber  the  Texan  charge  at  San  Jacinto.  The  battle, 
however,  where  every  man  fought  to  the  last,  the 
siege  from  which  no  American  survived,  has  per 
haps  taken  the  greatest  hold  on  the  imagination  of 
succeeding  generations.  Thus  the  name  "Alamo" 
is  now  one  for  the  conjuring  of  patriots  and  heroes. 
It  brings  to  mind  one  of  the  richest  memories  of 
the  American  people. 

The  war  commenced  in  a  small  battle  at  Gon- 
zales,  in  October,  1835.  Other  minor  engagements 
followed.  In  December  Colonel  Neill  took  the 
Alamo  and  the  town.  On  February  n,  1836, 
Colonel  Travis  assumed  command  of  the  regulars. 
The  volunteers  elected  James  Bowie  as  their 
Colonel.  The  Mexican  army  gathered  on  the  Rio 
Grande  for  the  invasion  of  Texas.  On  February 
24th  Santa  Anna's  trained  troops  were  advancing 
on  the  Alamo.  Colonel  Travis'  appeals  for  help  to 
the  yet  unorganized  government  of  Texas  had  not 
been  answered.  A  force  of  about  one  hundred  and 
eighty  Texans  prepared  to  resist,  to  the  last  man, 
the  threatened  assault.  Colonel  Travis  gave  to 
those  who  desired  to  leave  the  opportunity  while 


THE  ALAMO 


yet  there  was  time,  but,  save  one,  all  remained. 
As  they  stepped  across  the  dead  line  drawn  on  the 
floor  of  the  church,  each  man  knew  that  he  was 
consigning  himself  to  the  last  sacrifice.  What  a 
picture  for  a  painter !  He  who  would  draw  it  must 
depict  no  armor  and  waving  plumes.  No  boasting 
knights  must  be  shown.  Upon  the  canvas  will 
appear  a  little  band  of  modest  men,  cool  and  un 
afraid  ;  their  hunting  shirts  of  buckskin ;  their  hands 
hardened  with  toil ;  their  faces  bronzed  by  the  wind 
and  sun ;  their  weapons,  rifles  which  they  had  borne 
from  early  youth.  In  their  faces  must  appear  the 
quiet  light  that  reveals  the  steady,  inner  fire  of 
American  manhood. 

The  Mexican  force  has  been  variously  estimated 
from  fifteen  hundred  to  six  thousand.  Santa  Anna 
called  upon  Colonel  Travis  to  surrender.  His  reply 
came  from  the  cannon's  mouth.  The  assault  began. 
For  many  days  it  lasted.  From  every  side  were  the 
enemy  repulsed;  the  Mexican  soldiers  who  looked 
over  the  outer  wall  saw  briefly  and  then  closed  their 
eyes  forever. 

On  the  morning  of  Sunday,  March  6,  Santa  Anna 
stormed  the  place.  There  were  thousands  against 
a  handful.  Hundreds  of  enemies  paid  final  toll  to 
the  Texan  marksmanship.  Hundreds  of  others  lay 
down  with  their  wounds.  Finally  the  doors  gave 
way.  The  remaining  defenders  fought  with  sword 
and  dagger.  How  the  lightning  played  as  steel  met 
steel!  How  the  two-edged  knife  of  Bowie  drank, 


THE  ALAMO 


and  drank  again,  of  the  crimson  flood!  The  mas 
sacre  was  completed.  The  price  of  freedom  was 
paid.  The  Mexican  General  received  it  to  the  last 
vital  drop.  The  Alamo's  defense  passed  into  his 
tory. 

The  following  morning  Houston,  hurrying  to  the 
relief  of  Travis'  command,  dismounted  as  the  sun 
was  rising.  He  listened — as  only  a  plainsman  can 
listen — for  the  Alamo's  signal  gun.  All  was  silence. 
Across  the  prairie  came  a  message,  borne  by  the 
spirits  of  heroes.  It  was  remembered  at  San  Jacinto. 
It  will  be  remembered  as  long  as  America  endures. 
True,  the  Alamo  had  no  messenger  of  defeat.  There 
was  no  defeat,  but  victory — the  victory  of  men  who 
knew  how  to  die. 

I  stepped  out  into  the  May  sunshine.  In  the  yard 
of  the  old  convent,  in  a  star-shaped  bed,  the  pansies 
were  blooming,  some  with  the  blue  of  the  sky,  some 
white,  and  others  of  deep  red,  drunk  from  hallowed 
soil.  Across  the  street,  above  the  Federal  building 
a  flag  floated.  Its  colors  were  those  of  the  pansies. 
Its  corner  was  sprinkled  with  stars. 


Ill  JIIL  J1IL  JML  JI1LJ1IL  JIIIJIK  INI  Jilt  lll 


One  of  the  very  many  useful  ob 
servations  that  may  be  made  upon  the 
career  of  George  Washington  is  that 
by  a  careful  and  thorough  education 
he  was  prepared  to  successfully  meet 
the  great  emergencies  of  his  versatile 
life. 


George  Washington 

"Where  may  the  wearied  eye  repose 
When  gazing  on  the  Great; 

Where  neither  guilty  glory  glows, 
Nor  despicable  state? 

Yes — one — the  first — the  last — the  best— 
The  Cincinnatus  of  the  West, 
Whom  envy  dared  not  hate, 

Bequeath  the  name  of  Washington, 

To  make  men  blush  there  was  but  one!" 

— Lord  Byron. 

AT  the  foot  of  a  slope  leading  down  from  the  old 
Washington  mansion  at  Mt.  Vernon,  Vir 
ginia,  stands  a  simple  vault  of  brick  and  stone. 
Within  it  is  the  marble-enclosed  dust  of  the  first 
Great  American.  About  it  are  forest  trees.  Below 
it  the  great  Potomac  takes  its  seaward  way.  Before 
it,  year  after  year,  come  multitudes  to  do  reverence 
at  this  shrine,  one  of  the  most  sacred  in  America. 

In  Westmoreland  County,  Virginia,  George 
Washington  was  born,  February  22nd,  1732.  His 
father  was  Augustine  Washington,  a  farmer.  His 
mother  was  Mary  Ball,  Augustine  Washington's 
second  wife.  By  the  first  wife  four  children  were 
born,  one  of  them  being  Lawrence.  By  Mary  Ball 
six  were  born,  of  whom  George  was  the  eldest. 

The  four-room  house,  the  home  of  his  earliest 
childhood,  was  the  usual  small  and  humble  birth 
place  of  greatness. 

A  few  years  after  the  coming  of  George,  the  fam- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 


ily  moved  to  the  banks  of  the  Rappahannock,  oppo 
site  Fredericksburg,  where  in  1743  Washington's 
father  died. 

Until  the  autumn  of  his  fifteenth  year,  George 
attended  "backwoods"  schools.  He  studied  dili 
gently  and  played  hard.  He  was  proficient  in 
mathematics,  and  he  learned  surveying.  At  thir 
teen  years  of  age  he  prepared  a  code  of  one  hundred 
ten  precepts  which  guided  him  throughout  life. 
Some  are  as  follows: 

"Associate  yourself  with  men  of  good  quality  if 
you  esteem  your  own  reputation,  for  it  is  better 
to  be  alone  than  in  bad  company." 

"Undertake  not  what  you  cannot  perform,  but 
be  careful  to  keep  your  promise." 

"Let  your  recreations  be  manful,  not  sinful." 

"Labor  to  keep  alive  in  your  breast  that  little 
spark  of  celestial  fire  called  conscience." 

On  leaving  school,  he  went  to  live  with  his  half- 
brother  Lawrence.  Lawrence  was  fourteen  years 
his  senior;  he  was  well  educated  and  had,  in  the 
war  against  Spain,  served  with  the  English  under 
Admiral  Vernon.  From  his  father  Lawrence  had 
inherited  a  tract  of  land  on  the  Potomac,  which,  in 
honor  of  his  admiral,  he  named  Mount  Vernon.  Not 
far  distant  was  the  home  of  William  Fairfax,  whose 
daughter  Lawrence  married.  A  relation  of  Wil 
liam,  Lord  Fairfax,  arrived  from  England  about 
the  time  George  Washington  came  to  live  with  his 
half-brother.  Lord  Fairfax  was  a  well  educated 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 


man,  a  graduate  of  Oxford.  George  saw  much  of 
the  Fairfax  family,  both  at  their  home  and  at  Mt. 
Vernon.  At  Mt.  Vernon  there  resided,  too,  Ad 
jutant  Muse,  a  military  tactician  of  skill,  who  had 
served  with  Lawrence  in  England's  West  India 
campaign.  Also,  there  came  to  Mt.  Vernon  another 
companion  in  arms  of  Lawrence,  one  Jacob  Van 
Braam.  He  was  a  great  swordsman. 

During  the  few  years  that  George  resided  with 
his  half-brother,  he  surveyed  for  Lord  Fairfax  in 
the  Alleghanies.  At  fifteen  schooling  -in  the  back 
woods  was  finished,  but  at  Mt.  Vernon  George 
Washington  entered  and  attended  one  of  the  great 
est  universities  that  has  ever  been  set  upon  Amer 
ican  soil.  He  was  the  only  student.  The  faculty 
numbered  five, — the  two  Fairfaxes,  Lawrence,  Muse 
and  Van  Braam.  From  the  literary  Lord  Fairfax, 
who  in  England  had  written  for  The  Spectator,  and 
now  past  middle  life,  the  student  must  have  gained 
much.  By  the  well  educated,  widely  experienced 
Lawrence,  were  large  contributions  to  George's 
training  made.  Van  Braam  taught  thoroughly  the 
swordsman's  art.  With  books,  drills  and  oral  in 
struction,  Muse  laid  deep  the  foundation  of  military 
genius. 

Washington  was  fond  of  sports.  He  was  an  ex 
cellent  wrestler  and  a  fine  horseman,  and  to  these 
gifts  he  added  his  training  in  the  Alleghany  forests, 
where  woodcraft  was  learned  and  a  wide  acquaint 
ance  with  the  Indians  gained.  In  all  his  study, 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 


training  and  exercise,  Washington  was  diligent  and 
earnest,  and,  too,  he  highly  trained  his  powers  of 
observation. 

In  the  fall  of  1751  Lawrence  visited  the  Barba- 
does  in  quest  of  health.  George  accompanied  him. 
The  trip  was  unavailing,  as  Lawrence  died  the  fol 
lowing  spring,  shortly  after  his  return  to  Mt.  Ver- 
non.  Upon  this  trip  Washington's  diary  shows  his 
power  as  an  observer  and  his  interest  in  everything 
he  saw — the  soil,  the  crops,  the  people  and  the  im 
ports  and  exports.  While  in  the  Barbadoes,  Wash 
ington  was  ill  with  smallpox.  This  the  diary  re 
cords. 

George  Washington  was  not  an  accident.  He 
was  highly  trained  for  the  great  work  that  came 
to  him.  His  versatility  and  his  sureness  were  the 
products  of  educating  toil.  To  Lawrence  Wash 
ington,  as  well  as  to  George,  are  we  indebted,  for 
through  Lawrence  George  gained  the  opportunity 
for  an  education,  an  opportunity  which  now  is  so 
easily  open  to  all. 

Of  no  man  in  history  have  we  more  accurate 
knowledge  than  of  our  first  President.  Nearly 
everything  he  wrote,  from  his  precepts  when  thir 
teen  years  of  age,  to  his  will,  which  he  himself 
penned,  has  been  preserved.  A  study  of  his  life 
shows  always  that  the  steady  unfolding  of  his  pow 
ers  came  through  no  magic  formula.  His  growth 
was  inspired  by  diligence. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  on  the  mission  to  the  French, 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 


above  the  Ohio  River,  Governor  Dinwiddie  sent 
George  Washington,  Virginia's  best  equipped  repre 
sentative  for  such  an  undertaking. 

Trained  as  he  was,  it  is  not  surprising  that  at  the 
battle  of  Great  Meadows,  Washington  was  in  com 
mand.  At  the  battle  of  the  Monongahela,  no  one 
less  prepared  than  he  could  have  used  the  Virginia 
troops  to  save  the  remnants  of  Braddock's  army, 
shattered  under  the  fierce  Indian  ambush  attack. 

He  was  fitted  for  membership  in  the  Virginia 
House  of  Burgesses  and  was  sent  there  to  serve. 
When  the  Revolution  came,  to  him,  because  he 
was  best  prepared,  the  Continental  Congress  turned 
for  its  military  commander.  The  stupendous  dif 
ficulties  of  his  undertaking  are  now  beyond  com 
plete  appreciation.  One  of  lesser  early  preparation 
than  he  could  neither  have  endured  or  solved  them. 
His  troubles,  his  defeats,  his  triumphs  are  suggested 
by  the  names  Long  Island,  Harlem  Heights,  White 
Plains,  Trenton,  Princeton,  Brandywine,  German- 
town,  Valley  Forge,  Arnold  and  Yorktown.  Did 
not  Muse's  instruction  bear  fruit  in  the  masterly 
retreat  through  New  Jersey  in  1776,  and  the  rapid 
movement  that  hemmed  in  Cornwallis  in  1781? 
These  two  accomplishments  alone  place  Washing 
ton  among  the  greatest  generals  of  history. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  devoted  himself  to 
farming.  With  great  foresight  he  carefully  planned 
the  linking  of  the  East  and  West  by  joining  the 
headwaters  of  the  Potomac  and  the  Ohio  rivers. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 


In  farming  he  had  been  trained  in  his  childhood; 
of  the  possibilities  for  internal  navigation  he  had 
learned  as  a  youthful  surveyor. 

He  was  made  a  delegate  to  the  Constitutional 
Convention,  and  became  its  President.  His  early 
studies  had  sufficiently  begun  his  preparation  for 
this  duty.  He  was  able  to  reconcile  the  views  of 
Hamilton  and  those  of  the  Jeffersonian  school.  The 
contributions  of  the  great  thinkers  of  that  Conven 
tion,  who  had  gleaned  much  from  experience  and 
from  history  were,  by  Washington's  careful  judg 
ment,  stripped  of  their  dross  and  from  the  remain 
ing  pure  gold  was  the  Constitution  fashioned. 
Soldier,  student,  farmer,  patriot,  statesman — he  was 
ready  for  the  great  office  of  President  of  the  United 
States.  How  faithfully  and  well  he  served,  all 
know.  At  the  close  of  his  second  term  he  gave  to 
his  country  the  immortal  Farewell  Address.  Of 
its  many  expressions  of  wisdom  we  quote  but  that 
one  which  points  out  the  necessity  for  education 
in  a  government  such  as  ours:  "Promote  then,  as 
an  object  of  primary  importance,  institutions  for 
the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge.  In  proportion 
as  the  structure  of  government  gives  force  to  public 
opinion,  it  is  essential  that  public  opinion  should 
be  enlightened." 

This  truth  as  to  governments  is  also  applicable 
to  individuals.  No  American  life  illustrates  better 
than  does  George  Washington's  the  value  of  a  gen 
eral  education.  To  the  great  contributions  made  by 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 


his  parents  and  by  his  early  schoolmasters,  Mr. 
Hobby  and  Mr.  Williams,  to  George  Washington, 
the  child,  were  added  the  vast  ones  of  Lawrence 
Washington,  the  Fairfaxes,  Muse  and  Van  Braam, 
to  George  Washington,  the  youth.  Through  his 
training  he  became  a  well  rounded,  versatile,  use 
ful  man,  one  ever  ready  to  serve  when  the  call  for 
service  should  come.  It  is  not  surprising  that  he 
became  the  "Father  of  his  Country."  It  is  not 
strange  that  his  life  is  known  to,  and  studied  by, 
all  the  earth's  peoples.  It  is  natural  that  ever  pil 
grimages  shall  be  made  to  his  tomb,  there  to  learn 
at  this  appropriately  simple  shrine,  that  the  mother 
of  genius  is  toil. 


HlLJIILJULJIILJm  JIIMIILJIil  Jill  JliMI 


For  principle  the  Pilgrims  dared, 
with  courage  they  came,  by  faith  they 
endured  and  through  toil  they  won. 


Plymouth  Rock 

"The  Pilgrim  Spirit  has  not  fled; 
It  walks  in  noon's  broad  light; 
And  it  watches  the  bed  of  the  glorious  dead, 
With  the  holy  stars  by  night. 
It  watches  the  bed  of  the  brave  who  have  bled, 
And  still  guard  this  ice-bound  shore, 
'Till  the  waves  of  the  bay,  where  the  Mayflower  lay, 
Shall  foam  and  freeze  no  more." 

—John  Pierpont. 

ON  September  16,  1620,  a  small  schooner,  in 
command  of  a  pirate  captain,  set  sail  from 
England.  Her  Pilgrim  passengers  thought  they 
were  bound  for  the  vicinity  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Hudson  River,  America.  Captain  Jones,  in  con 
spiracy  with  certain  British  nobles,  intended,  how 
ever,  to  land  them  in  New  England.  How  fortunate 
were  the  circumstances  that  led  to  the  Mayflower's 
voyage !  How  happy  the  conspiracy  that  took  them 
to  where  Cape  Cod  reaches  like  a  giant  arm  into 
the  Atlantic,  waiting  to  receive  within  its  curve  the 
little  bark  that  was  to  infuse  life  and  strength  into 
the  whole  continental  body. 

Under  a  canopy  of  stone,  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
waves  that  once  heat  against  it,  lays  Plymouth 
Rock.  It  is  about  six  feet  long,  three  feet  wide  and 
three  feet  high.  On  its  face  are  cut  the  figures 
1620.  Daily,  year  after  year,  visitors  look  upon  it. 
Here,  one  chill  December's  day,  came  a  little  band 
of  Pilgrims.  On  the  slope  of  the  hill  behind  it, 


PLYMOUTH  ROCK 


they  built  their  rude  houses.  In  the  two  decades 
that  followed  the  planting  of  their  colony,  about 
twenty  thousand  English  men  and  women  made 
their  perilous  way  across  the  Atlantic  to  this  and 
other  settlements  in  the  wilderness  of  New  Eng 
land.  Then  for  a  long  time  immigration  almost 
ceased.  To-day,  descendants  from  this  original 
stock  are  found  in  all  the  forty-eight  states  of  the 
Union.  They  have  wielded,  and  still  wield,  a  vast 
influence  in  American  life.  It  is,  therefore,  not  sur 
prising  that  of  these  first  settlers  much  inquiry  has 
been  made,  whole  libraries  written,  many  relics 
preserved,  and  that  the  place  of  their  landing  has, 
through  three  centuries,  been  a  shrine  for  their 
beneficiaries. 

Advantageous  changes  in  the  history  of  the  world 
have  sometimes  come  from  doctrinal  religious  dis 
putes.  No  sooner  had  the  Church  of  England  been 
established,  than  controversies  arose  within  it  as 
to  the  powers  of  Church  dignitaries  and  the  cere 
monials  of  Christian  worship.  One  faction  believed 
in  lodging  great  power  in  the  prelates  and  in  elab 
orate  services,  the  other  in  a  curbing  of  that  power 
and  in  simple  worship. 

A  congregation  of  the  latter  faction  was  formed 
at  Scrooby.  To  them  came  maltreatment,  perse 
cution  and  lodgment  in  prison  cells.  With  much 
difficulty,  a  group  of  them  escaped  to  Amsterdam, 
Holland.  There  they  found  much  religious  alterca 
tion.  From  this  they  fled  to  Leyden.  Following 


PLYMOUTH  ROCK 


about  twelve  years'  residence  there,  they  determined 
to  seek  out  a  spot  free  from  the  arguments  of  dogma. 
They,  with  the  rest  of  Europe,  had  heard  much  of 
America.  Thence  they  determined  to  go,  to  enjoy 
civil  liberty  and  to  worship  God  according  to  £he 
dictates  of  their  own  consciences. 

To  this  end,  two  of  their  number,  Robert  Cush- 
man  and  John  Carver,  went  to  England  to  arrange 
with  the  Virginia  Company  for  a  grant  of  land. 
This  they  finally  secured,  but  the  Pilgrims  never 
reached  it;  chance  and  fate  had  destined  for  them 
a  bleaker  home.  A  group  of  English  adventurers 
financed  the  undertaking,  upon  an  agreement  to 
divide  with  the  Pilgrims  the  profits  it  was  thought 
would  be  secured  through  "trade,  traffic,  trucking, 
working  and  fishing"  in  the  New  World.  These 
arrangements  completed,  a  small  sailing  craft,  the 
Speedwell,  was  provided  to  take  the  colonists 
from  Delft-Haven,  the  port  of  Leyden,  to  England, 
whence  it,  together  with  a  larger  ship,  the  May 
flower,  was  to  convey  them  and  some  of  the  Pil 
grims  resident  in  England  to  "North  Virginia." 

From  Southampton  the  two  vessels  put  to  sea. 
Twice  were  they  driven  back  by  storms.  The  cap 
tain  of  the  Speedwell  then  refused  again  to  ven 
ture  because  of  the  alleged  unseaworthiness  of  his 
ship.  Many  of  its  passengers  were  transferred  to 
the  already  crowded  Mayflower.  This  historic  ves 
sel  was  probably  about  ninety  feet  long,  with  about 
a  twenty-four  foot  beam.  Her  stem  and  stern  were 


PLYMOUTH  ROCK 


high.  It  is  likely  she  had  three  masts  and  was 
rigged  like  other  ships  of  her  day.  She  carried  at 
least  two  boats— one  a  shallop,  about  thirty  feet 
long,  which  was  cut  in  two  for  stowing,  and  a  skiff. 
How  brave  were  they  who  ventured  in  such  a  tiny 
craft  I  The  Sparrow-Hawk,  which,  after  its  cross 
ing  in  1626,  was  wrecked  on  Cape  Cod,  was  barely 
forty  feet  in  length.  Its  skeleton  may  now  be  seen 
in  the  Pilgrims'  Hall  at  Plymouth,  Massachusetts. 
The  passengers  numbered  one  hundred  and  two, 
the  crew  probably  twenty  or  twenty-five.  Who 
were  these  intrepid  souls  who  left  the  habitations 
of  their  kind  to  find  civil  and  religious  freedom  in 
toil  and  struggle  upon  the  rocky  coast  of  the  vast 
continental  wilderness?  For  such  an  undertaking 
should  we  expect  doughty  knights  with  burnished 
arms,  or  men  of  courtly  graces  who  would  do  and 
dare,  far  from  the  plaudits  of  the  multitude?  Should 
we  hope  for  men  who  measure  rank  in  velvets  and 
plumes,  and  in  the  habiliments  of  ease?  These  we 
neither  expect  nor  find.  Rather  we  find  John  Car 
ver,  a  merchant  of  sixty  years,  his  wife  and  six 
helpers  ranging  in  age  from  sixteen  to  twenty-seven 
years ;  Elder  Brewster,  a  printer,  his  wife,  two  chil 
dren  and  two  bound  boys;  Edward  Winslow,  a 
printer,  his  wife  and  three  young  servants ;  William 
Bradford,  a  silk  worker,  and  his  wife ;  Doctor  Sam 
uel  Fuller,  a  physician,  and  William  Butten,  his 
assistant;  Isaac  Allerton,  a  tailor,  his  wife,  three 
children  and  a  servant;  Captain  Miles  Standish,  a 


PLYMOUTH  ROCK 


soldier,  and  his  wife;  Christopher  Martin,  a  trades 
man,  his  wife  and  two  servants;  William  White,  a 
wool  carder,  his  wife,  one  child  and  two  servants; 
William  Mullins,  his  wife,  two  children  and  one 
servant;  Richard  Warren,  a  farmer;  Stephen  Hop 
kins,  occupation  unknown,  his  wife,  three  children 
and  two  servants;  John  Crackstone  and  his  son; 
Edward  Tilley,  a  silk  worker,  his  wife  and  two 
infant  cousins;  John  Tilley,  a  silk  worker,  his  wife 
and  daughter ;  Francis  Cooke,  a  wool  carder  and  his 
son ;  James  Chilton,  his  wife  and  daughter ;  Thomas 
Rogers,  a  merchant,  and  his  son;  Degory  Priest,  a 
hatter;  John  Rigdale  and  wife;  Edward  Fuller,  his 
wife  and  son;  Thomas  Tinker,  a  wood  sawyer,  his 
wife  and  son;  John  Turner,  a  merchant,  and  two 
sons;  Francis  Eaton,  a  carpenter,  his  wife  and  son; 
Gilbert  Winslow,  a  carpenter;  John  Alden,  a 
cooper ;  Peter  Browne,  a  mechanic ;  John  Billington, 
his  wife  and  two  sons ;  Moses  Fletcher,  a  black 
smith;  Thomas  Williams;  John  Goodman,  a  linen 
weaver;  Edward  Margeson;  Richard  Britteredge; 
Richard  Clarke;  Richard  Gardiner;  John  Alderton; 
Thomas  English ;  William  Trevore  ;  and  Ely — first 
name  unknown — the  last  four  being  seamen.  Some 
of  the  married  men  who  were  unaccompanied  by 
their  wives  and  families  were  joined  by  them  in 
America  later.  Oceanus  Hopkins  was  born  on  the 
voyage  and  Peregrine  White  was  born  in  Province- 
town  harbor.  Counting  these  two,  the  total  pas 
senger  list  is  one  hundred  and  four. 


PLYMOUTH  ROCK 


How  throughout  history  and  in  our  own  day  the 
great  advances  are  made  by  those  who  toil!  The 
contributions  of  the  sluggard  are  few,  except  in  the 
example  to  be  avoided  by  those  who  would  succeed. 
From  common  folk,  from  merchants,  mechanics, 
farmers,  carpenters  and  other  workers  springs  the 
strength  of  great  nations.  To  these  outwardly  or 
dinary  people  was  given  the  mission  of  founding 
Democracy  in  America.  None  of  them  could  have 
dreamed  that  centuries  later  a  huge  graven  figure, 
symbolic  of  their  courageous  faith,  would  surmount 
Plymouth  Hill  and  that  upon  its  pedestal  a  grate 
ful  posterity  would  reverently  read  the  passenger 
list  of  the  Mayflower. 

For  over  two  months  the  straining  ship  buffeted 
the  surly  sea.  What  misery  this  crowded  argosy 
held!  Nineteen  women,  ten  young  girls  and  many 
other  children,  together  with  the  men,  suffered  the 
difficulties  of  the  narrow  quarters  in  a  small  "wet 
ship."  Little  opportunity  for  cooking  was  had,  and 
their  food  was  generally  eaten  cold  and  raw.  The 
pains  of  their  sicknesses  were  multiplied  by  the 
inconveniences  of  their  close  confinement.  During 
the  voyage  a  deck  beam  broke.  Fortunately  one 
of  the  passengers  had  brought  a  lifting  jack;  by 
means  of  this  the  beam  was  repaired. 

They  carried  a  considerable  cargo,  which  included 
hogs,  poultry,  goats  and  dogs.  Of  only  two  dogs 
are  we  certain— one  a  mastiff,  the  other  a  spaniel. 
Their  lack  of  space  prevented  the  shipping  of  cows 


PLYMOUTH  ROCK 


or  of  horses.  They  brought  some  furniture  and  a 
considerable  quantity  of  clothing;  also  they  pos 
sessed  a  few  books,  several  of  which  were  doubtless 
Bibles.  The  furniture  included  a  few  chairs,  small 
tables,  beds,  cradles,  chests,  spinning  wheels,  looms 
and  household  utensils;  also  they  brought  me 
chanics'  tools  and  hand  agricultural  implements. 
Among  the  former  were  carpenter  and  blacksmith 
kits,  and  the  latter  included  hoes,  spades,  sickles, 
scythes,  shovels  and  pitchforks.  The  tools  were 
generally  without  handles,  to  save  space.  On  ar 
rival  in  America,  one  of  the  first  undertakings  was 
the  making  of  tool  handles.  The  cargo  included, 
too,  nets,  fish  hooks,  muskets,  fowling  pieces,  pow 
der,  shot,  armor,  swords,  cutlasses  and  daggers ;  also 
they  were  provided  with  cannon — at  least  six  pieces. 
Two  were  ten  feet  long  and  of  about  three  and 
one-half  inch  bore,  and  weighed  nearly  a  ton  each; 
the  others  were  somewhat  smaller.  They  carried 
as  well  a  "stock  of  trading  goods"  for  barter  with 
the  Indians.  Among  these  were  knives,  beads,  mir 
rors,  cotton  cloth,  blankets,  fish  hooks,  "strong 
waters,"  hatchets  and  articles  for  personal  adorn 
ment.  Doubtless  they  were  prepared  both  with  the 
materials  and  the  determination  to  carry  out  their 
agreement  with  the  adventurers. 

In  the  latter  part  of  November  they  came  in  sight 
of  Cape  Cod.  Then  they  took  a  southerly  course, 
hoping  to  sail  along  the  coast  to  the  Hudson  River 
region.  Captain  Jones,  though  he  probably  pos- 


PLYMOUTH  ROCK 


sessed  charts,  made  by  the  many  explorers  of  this 
region,  did  not  keep  to  the  deep  water  course  but 
took  the  ship  among  the  shoals  off  Monomoy.  After 
some  difficulty,  he  put  back  for  Cape  Cod  Bay. 

The  season  was  late,  and  apparently  there  was 
no  practical  alternative  to  landing  upon  the  New 
England  coast.  Some  of  the  passengers  were  dis 
satisfied  with  the  abandonment  of  the  plan  to  pro 
ceed.  With  this  as  the  immediately  inducing  cause, 
the  famous  Compact  was  made  which  is  now  known 
as  one  of  the  great  charters  of  human  liberty.  How 
often  it  is  that  through  dissatisfaction  is  advance 
ment  made,  and  how,  too,  the  complaints  of  a  few, 
whether  just  or  unjust,  are  helpful  to  the  many! 

What  a  scene  was  presented  by  this  meeting  of 
the  adult  male  passengers  in  the  cabin  of  the  May 
flower!  Here  they  covenanted  "to  combine  our 
selves  together  into  a  civill  body  politick  for  our 
better  ordering  and  preservation,"  and  also  agreed 
"to  enacte,  constitute,  and  frame  such  just  and 
equall  lawes,  ordinances,  acts,  constitutions  and 
offices,  from  time  to  time,  as  shall  be  thought  most 
meete  and  convenient  for  ye  generall  good  of  ye 
Colonie,  unto  which  we  promise  all  due  submission 
and  obedience."  Here  were  not  scholars  or  stu 
dents  of  institutions;  here  was  no  delving  into  the 
ruins  of  the  past  to  find  the  materials  upon  which 
to  found  solid  governments.  This  was  the  concep 
tion  of  artisans  and  workmen — of  a  few  farmers, 
weavers,  coopers,  merchants,  carpenters,  black- 


PLYMOUTH  ROCK 


smiths  and  others  who  worked  with  their  hands. 
From  the  caverns  of  their  brains  came  that  most 
sound  and  natural  thought  that  among  themselves 
would  they  frame  and  enact  justly  the  laws  of  the 
society  which  they  constituted.  To  the  laws  thus 
made  they  promised  obedience.  The  compact 
signed,  they  elected  John  Carver  their  Governor  for 
one  year,  and,  shortly  after,  came  to  anchor  in  what 
is  now  known  as  Provincetown  harbor,  Cape  Cod. 
A  party  then  went  ashore  for  wood.  On  the  follow 
ing  day,  Sunday,  services  were  held  aboard  ship. 

On  Monday,  the  shallop  was  hauled  ashore  and 
repairs  on  it  were  begun.  Many  on  this  day  went 
ashore.  Two  days  later  an  exploring  party,  under 
the  leadership  of  Captain  Miles  Standish,  the  only 
professional  soldier  of  their  number,  landed.  They 
proceeded  southward  upon  the  Cape  as  far  as  Pamet 
River.  They  saw  some  Indians.  After  two  days' 
absence,  the  explorers  returned  with  a  supply  of 
Indian  corn,  which  they  had  taken  from  a  cache. 

On  December  7,  the  shallop  being  ready,  thirty- 
four  of  the  party,  including  Captain  Jones  and  some 
of  the  crew,  went  forth  to  explore.  Upon  their  trip 
they  visited  the  cache  of  corn  and  took  about  ten 
bushels — all  that  remained — and  some  beans  for 
use  as  seed  the  following  spring.  About  six  months 
later  they  repaid  to  the  Indians  this  enforced  loan. 
On  the  sixteenth  of  the  month,  eighteen  of  the  men, 
six  of  whom  were  of  the  officers  or  crew  of  the  ship, 
proceeded  in  the  shallop  upon  an  extended  explora- 


PLYMOUTH  ROCK 


tion  for  a  site  for  settlement.  Two  days  later  they 
were  attacked  by  thirty  or  forty  Indians,  but  no 
casualties  ensued.  On  Monday,  December  21,  this 
exploring  party  at  Plymouth  "sounded  the  harbor 
and  found  it  fit  for  shipping."  They  went  ashore. 
This  is  the  specific  event  that  is  celebrated  as  the 
"Landing  of  the  Pilgrims."  They  found  old  Indian 
cornfields  and  springs — this  determined  the  spot  as 
suitable.  They  returned  across  Cape  Cod  bay  to 
the  ship,  which  was  sailed  into  Plymouth  Harbor 
on  Saturday,  December  26.  On  Monday,  the  28th, 
they  made  a  further  examination  of  the  neighbor 
ing  land,  and,  following  a  few  stormy  days,  com 
menced,  on  January  2,  1621,  to  cut  timber  for  their 
houses.  From  then  until  spring  they  were  engaged 
in  making  their  homes,  most  of  the  company  living, 
meanwhile,  on  shipboard.  Under  exposure  to  the 
New  England  winter,  and  because  of  the  scurvy, 
many  died.  Bradford,  in  his  history,  says :  "Of  the 
hundred  and  odd  persons,  scarce  fifty  remained,  and 
of  these,  in  the  time  of  most  distress,  there  were  but 
six  or  seven  sound  persons,  who  spared  no  pains, 
night  nor  day,  but  with  abundance  of  toil  and 
hazard  of  their  own  health,  fetched  them  wood, 
made  them  fires,  dressed  their  meat,  made  their 
beds,  washed  their  loathsome  clothes,  clothed  and 
unclothed  them — in  a  word,  did  all  the  homely  and 
necessary  offices  for  them  which  dainty  and  quesie 
stomachs  cannot  endure  to  hear  named ;  and  all  this 


PLYMOUTH  ROCK 


willingly  and  cheerfully  without  any  grudging  in 
the  least." 

Under  such  difficulties  as  these,  in  the  dead  of 
winter,  on  a  bleak  coast,  did  the  sturdy  little  band 
of  men,  women  and  children  plant  the  colony  which 
was  to  spread  and  grow  until  generations  of  their 
own  kind  had  made  their  way  over  three  thousand 
miles  of  mountains  and  plains  to  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific. 

On  March  26,  down  the  single  street  of  the  little 
village  stalked  a  lone  Indian.  To  the  astonishment 
of  the  settlers,  and  in  the  English  tongue,  he  uttered 
the  word  "Welcome."  He  told  them  his  name — 
Samoset.  From  him  much  information  was  gained 
concerning  the  Indian  tribes.  From  him  they 
learned,  too,  that  four  years  previous  all  the  Indians 
at  Plymouth — or  Patuxet,  as  the  redmen  knew  it — 
had  died  of  a  plague.  His  knowledge  of  English 
had  been  gathered  from  the  crew  of  English  vessels 
fishing  along  the  coast  of  Maine. 

On  April  i,  Samoset  came  again,  accompanied  by 
Squanto,  an  Indian  who  had  lived  for  a  time  in 
England  at  the  home  of  John  Slany,  a  merchant. 
Squanto  was  more  proficient  in  English  than  was 
Samoset,  and  became  the  interpreter  for  the  Colony. 
Through  him  the  Pilgrims  became  acquainted  with 
Massasoit,  the  Sagamore  of  the  Wampanoags.  With 
him  a  treaty  was  made.  It  provided  principally 
that  he  and  his  should  do  no  injury,  but  if  injury 
was  done,  the  offender  should  be  turned  over  for 


PLYMOUTH  ROCK 


punishment;  that  anything  taken  by  either  party 
from  the  other  should  be  restored;  that  if  either 
party  was  unjustly  warred  upon,  the  other  should 
give  aid.  For  over  half  a  century  this  treaty  was 
strictly  kept  by  both  sides.  It  was  broken  in  1675 
by  Massasoit's  successor,  Philip. 

Squanto  was  of  great  service  to  the  Pilgrims.  He 
taught  them  to  fertilize  their  cornfields  by  putting  a 
few  herring  in  each  hill. 

Bradford's  History  relates,  in  reference  to  Squan 
to  :  "He  directed  them  how  to  set  their  corn,  where 
to  take  fish,  and  to  procure  other  commodities,  and 
was  also  their  pilot  to  bring  them  to  unknown  places 
for  their  profit,  and  never  left  them  till  he  died." 

Welcomed  by  the  red  men,  aided  by  them  and 
living  in  peace  with  them  for  over  fifty  years 
augured  well  for  the  security  of  the  New  England 
settlers.  The  time  was  to  come,  however,  when, 
instead  of  the  voice  of  friendly  greeting  would  be 
heard  the  piercing,  savage  war  cry;  when,  instead 
of  helpful  instruction,  would  be  seen,  in  the  lurid 
glare  of  the  burning  cabin,  the  fatal  gleam  of  the 
tomahawk  and  the  vengeful  flash  of  the  scalping 
knife ;  when,  in  place  of  the  white  belt  of  the  peace 
treaty,  there  should  be  yielded  to  the  white  man 
the  red  wampum  which  signified  terrible  war. 

On  April  15,  the  Mayflower  departed  for  Eng 
land.  As  she  sailed  away,  uncomfortable  though 
she  had  been,  and  perilous  the  outward  journey, 
doubtless  it  was  with  a  feeling  of  regret  that  the 


PLYMOUTH  ROCK 


watchers  on  shore  saw  her  masts  fade  below  the 
horizon.  She  never  came  again,  but  other  ships  did. 
The  first  of  many  vessels  to  follow  the  Mayflower's 
voyage  was  the  Fortune.  This  tiny  craft  anchored 
in  Plymouth  Bay  November  19,  1621.  Her  pas 
sengers  numbered  thirty-five.  A  letter  written  by 
Edward  Winslow  was  sent  back  by  her,  in  which 
he  said:  "In  this  little  time  that  a  few  of  us  have 
been  here,  we  have  built  seven  dwelling  houses  and 
four  for  the  use  of  the  plantation,  and  have  made 
preparation  for  divers  others.  We  set  the  last 
spring  some  twenty  acres  of  Indian  corn  and  sowed 
some  six  acres  of  barley  and  peas.  Our  corn  did 
prove  well,  and,  God  be  praised,  we  had  a  good 
increase  of  Indian  corn." 

When  the  harvest  was  gathered  in  the  fall  of 
1621,  the  first  Thanksgiving  was  held.  A  great  feast 
was  provided.  Venison,  wild  turkey,  wild  duck  and 
wild  fowl  of  several  other  kinds  were  in  great  plen- 
titude.  Many  Indians  attended.  A  very  interest 
ing  painting  of  the  scene  hangs  in  Pilgrim  Hall. 

The  Rock  at  Plymouth,  the  old  burying-ground, 
the  bay,  Clark's  Island,  the  monument  and  the  col 
lection  at  Pilgrim  Hall  bring  to  mind  incident  after 
incident  in  the  story  of  this  first  New  England  set 
tlement.  Who  can  look  upon  the  sword  of  Miles 
Standish,  Persian  made,  of  meteoric  iron,  without 
feeling  a  closer  acquaintance  with  him  whose  hand 
once  so  confidently  grasped  it?  The  fragment  of 
a  Pilgrim's  hoe  tells  its  story,  one  oft  repeated  by 


PLYMOUTH  ROCK 


the  American  pioneers  in  their  westward  march, 
of  the  struggle  to  plant  and  grow  crops  without 
plows,  or  harrows,  or  similar  implements,   or  the 
animals  to  draw  them.     Here  the  story  of  Priscilla 
Mullins,    of  John   Alden   and    "The    Courtship   of 
Miles    Standish"    comes   more    appealingly   to   the 
memory  than  ever  before.    Figure  after  figure  in  the 
great  drama  played  by  the  little  company  that  once 
came  from  overseas,  here  to  lead  useful  lives,  pass 
in  review.    We  see  their  honest  faces — earnest,  but 
not  austere  or  cold.     We  hear  them  talk  of  their 
God — not  as  a  distant  mystery  freighted  with  awful 
possibilities  for  them,  but  as  an  ever-present  force, 
friendly  and  kind.    We  see  them  at  their  work  im 
proving  their  shelter,  weaving  the  materials  for  their 
clothing  and  tilling  the  grudging  soil  for  the  crops. 
We  go  with  them  to  sea  and  watch  them  haul  in 
their  catch.     With  light  fowling  pieces  we  tramp 
with  them  to  marshes  or  venture  upon  the  bays 
where  wild  fowl  are  plentiful  and  unscared.     Upon 
the   hills   we    find    the    great    wild    turkeys,    their 
bronzed  plumage  brilliant  in  the  autumn  sun.     In 
the  copses  the  red  deer  run.    We  see  them  far  re 
moved  from  authority  except  their  own,  recogniz 
ing  that  wherever  a  group  of  humans  is  gathered 
rules  of  conduct  must  be  established  and  observed. 
How  simply  and  naturally  the  democratic  idea  takes 
hold!   How  logically  they  provide  the  machinery  of 
government!    We  see  institutions  in   their  begin 
nings  and  realize  that  from  this  simple  but  effec- 


PLYMOUTH  ROCK 


live  inception  came  at  last  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  They  were  just  plain  folks,  folks 
that  suffered,  loved,  struggled,  enjoyed,  thought  and 
toiled.  Centuries  have  passed  since  their  animated 
bodies  became  dust,  and  monuments  to  them  have 
value  only  for  the  living.  None  can  be  so  sufficient, 
or  so  suggestive,  of  the  Mayflower  Pilgrims  as  the 
simple  stone,  which  to  all  the  earth  is  known  as 
"Plymouth  Rock." 


nr™X   HALE   STATUF"    KRECTKI)    BY    THE    SOCIETY 
01-   THE  SONS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION,  CITY  H  \I  I 
PARK,  NEW  YORK,  NOVEMBER  25,   1893 


The  story  of  Nathan  Hale  is  one  of 
unmurmuring  devotion  to  duty. 


Nathan  Hale 

"But  his  last  words,  his  message-words, 

They  burn,  lest  friendly  eye 
Should  read  how  proud  and  calm 

A  patriot  could  die, 
With  his  last  words,  his  dying  words, 
A  soldier's  battle-cry." 

— Francis  Miles  Finch. 

ONE  of  the  great  virtues  that  Americans  have 
ever  displayed  is  courage.  Each  epoch  in  the 
history  of  the  continent  has  its  heroes.  How  daunt 
less  was  Leif  Ericson  in  buffeting  his  way  to  Vin- 
land!  What  intrepidity  Columbus  showed  in  his 
westward  sailing!  How  adventurous  were  all  the 
explorers !  The  bravery  of  the  men  and  women  who 
made  the  early  settlements  was  supreme.  The 
threadings  of  the  American  wilds  could  have  been 
made  only  by  those  whom  fear  could  not  weaken 
or  overcome.  In  peace  and  in  strife  Americans  have 
never  been  daunted  by  inherent  timidity.  Our  his 
tory  is  replete  with  names  whose  mention  suggests 
that  high  heroism  that  through  all  the  ages  has  been 
admired. 

Every  school-boy  is  thrilled  by  the  story  of  De- 
catur  at  Tripoli,  by  the  tale  of  Boone's  perilous 
wanderings  in  the  Kentucky  woodlands,  by  the  re 
counting  of  Kenton's  escapes  from  the  savage 
gauntlets  and  the  stake,  by  the  story  of  Crockett 
at  the  Alamo,  and  of  Carson,  Fremont,  Lewis, 


NATHAN  HALE 


Clark  and  Cody  on  the  plains  and  in  the  mountains 
of  the  West.  How  much  courageous  character  is 
suggested  by  the  names  of  Washington,  Stark, 
Green,  Allen,  Morgan,  Lee,  Jackson,  Grant,  Custer 
and  thousands  of  others  who  have  lived  as  true 
Americans. 

Of  all  the  stories  of  the  heroic  in  American  life, 
none  is  more  touching  than  that  of  Nathan  Hale. 
A  statue  of  him  is  erected  on  the  campus  of  his  alma 
mater,  its  bronze  silence  speaking  eloquently  to 
the  generations  of  Yale  students  who  have  paused 
before  it.  In  City  Hall  Park,  New  York,  is  another 
statue  of  him,  standing  as  he  stood  in  his  last  mo 
ments.  The  garb  is  that  of  a  school-master;  his 
arms  and  ankles  are  bound;  his  neck  is  bared  for 
the  noose  which  the  inhuman  Cunningham  has  pre 
pared.  It  was  here  on  this  island  of  Manahatta 
that  Nathan  Hale,  by  means  that  generally  are  for 
the  ignominious,  gloriously  died. 

He  was  a  spy,  but  a  spy  in  a  great  cause.  He  was 
a  soldier,  the  soldier  of  a  worthy  country.  He  was 
obeying  the  instructions  of  his  General,  George 
Washington,  of  the  Continental  Army. 

Nathan  Hale  was  born  in  Connecticut  in  1755. 
Of  his  youth  little  is  known  except  that  he  was  a 
handsome,  winning  boy  of  considerable  athletic 
prowess.  He  entered  Yale  College.  Upon  gradua 
tion  he  taught  school  at  New  London,  preparatory 
to  entering  the  ministry.  Then  came  the  news  of 
the  "embattled  farmers"  at  Concord  and  Lexington. 


NATHAN  HALE 


At  once  he  enlisted.  He  was  a  lieutenant  at  the 
siege  of  Boston,  and  soon  afterwards  was  promoted 
to  a  captaincy. 

After  the  British  evacuation  of  Boston  he  went 
with  Washington's  army  to  New  York.  Then  came 
the  defeat  at  Long  Island,  the  narrow  escape  of  the 
American  forces  and  the  withdrawal  to  Harlem 
Heights.  General  Washington,  with  his  army  de 
pleted  to  less  than  fifteen  hundred  men,  and  almost 
overwhelmed  by  disasters,  was  facing  Lord  Howe's 
highly-trained  force,  numbering  about  twenty-five 
thousand.  The  American  commander  felt  it  impera 
tive  to  know  the  stations  of  the  enemy  troops,  their 
numbers,  their  equipment  and  their  plans.  Though 
a  desperate  adventure,  to  send  a  spy  through  the 
British  lines  offered  the  only  chance.  Those  who 
were  thought  to  possess  sufficient  courage  were 
sought.  All  declined  until  request  was  made  of 
Captain  Hale. 

Proofs  of  his  daring  were  not  wanting.  Once  he 
had  led  a  few  companions  in  an  enterprise  of  great 
risk.  In  a  rowboat  under  cover  of  night  they  had 
made  way  to  a  British  vessel,  boarded  it,  imprisoned 
the  crew  and  under  the  guns  of  an  enemy  man-of- 
war  had  brought  it  to  wharf. 

Washington  personally  gave  Hale  the  instruc 
tions  for  his  dangerous  mission.  From  Harlem 
Heights  he  journeyed  to  Nor  walk,  where  he  ex 
changed  his  uniform  for  the  habiliments  of  a  school 
master.  One  night  a  vessel  took  him  across  Long 


NATHAN  HALE 


Island  Sound  to  Huntington  Bay,  where  he  entered 
the  lines  of  the  enemy.  For  two  weeks  he  carefully 
gathered  information  in  the  British  camps  in  and 
about  Brooklyn  and  in  New  York.  When  done,  he 
made  his  way  back  to  Huntington.  Here  his  char 
acter  was  discovered  and  his  capture  effected.  The 
manner  of  his  undoing  is  not  known  with  certainty. 
It  is  thought  that  a  relation  of  Tory  affiliations  made 
disclosure  to  a  British  naval  officer.  The  spy 
walked  to  the  water's  edge,  hoping  to  find  a  friendly 
boat.  One  approached,  but  when  near  up  rose  sev 
eral  enemy  marines.  Covered  by  their  guns,  he  em 
barked.  The  officer  in  command  took  him  to  the 
man-of-war  Halifax,  where  he  was  searched.  Con 
victing  sketches,  plans  and  memoranda  were  dis 
covered  in  his  shoes.  He  was  conveyed  to  New 
York  City  and  taken  before  Lord  Howe. 

The  American  captain  admitted  his  identity  and 
his  mission.  The  only  regret  expressed  by  him  was 
his  failure  to  report  to  his  General. 

Lord  Howe  sentenced  the  prisoner  to  be  hanged 
the  next  morning,  September  22,  1776.  His  jailer 
and  executioner  was  William  Cunningham,  the 
Provost-Marshal  of  the  British  army  in  New  York. 
Hale  asked  for  pen,  paper  and  a  Bible.  These  were 
refused;  later  in  the  night,  however,  an  officer  of 
the  guard  procured  them.  Two  letters  were  written, 
one  to  his  mother  and  one  to  his  betrothed.  Their 
contents  no  one  knows.  From  such  a  man,  doubt 
less  they  were  final  messages  of  consolation,  cour- 


NATHAN  HALE 


age  and  love.  As  day  came,  Cunningham  entered 
the  prison  cell.  The  condemned  man  handed  him 
the  two  letters  for  delivery,  but  the  brutal  officer 
tore  them  to  bits.  The  William  Cunningham  who 
did  this,  who  refused  to  unloose  the  bound  arms  of 
his  prisoner,  who  caused  the  unnecessary  agonies  of 
the  captured  colonists  who  came  to  his  keeping  and 
the  horrors  of  the  Sugar  House  prison,  himself  was 
later — unwept  and  dishonored — hung  for  his  crimes. 

As  Nathan  Hale  stood  that  September  morning 
unhesitatingly  ready  to  pay  the  price  which  the 
rules  of  war  demanded,  the  scoffing  Cunningham, 
in  placing  the  rope,  asked  him  to  make  his  dying 
confession.  Then  this  young  patriot  uttered  those 
words  that  all  Americans  ever  since  have  known: 
"My  only  regret  is  that  I  have  but  one  life  to  give 
for  my  country." 

He  was  buried  in  New  York  City — where,  no  one 
knows.  His  dust  has  long  since  mingled  with  the 
native  soil.  His  spirit  still  lives  wherever  pulses 
the  heroic  blood  of  America. 


STATUE   OF   RED  JACKET   AT   151'KFALO,    X.    V. 


The  advance  of  American  pioneers 
was  made  against  the  craftiest  and 
ablest  savages  the  world  has  ever 
known. 


Red  Jacket 

"Oh,  chequered  train  of  years,  farewell! 

With  all  thy  strifes  and  hopes  and  fears! 
Yet  with  us  let  thy  memories  dwell, 

To  warn  and  teach  the  coming  years. 

"And  thou,  the  new-beginning  age, 
Warned  by  the  past,  and  not  in  vain, 

Write  on  a  fairer,  whiter  page, 
The  record  of  thy  happier  reign." 

—William   Cullen   Bryant. 

ONE  July  morning  in  1609,  a  band  of  sixty  Al 
gonquin  and  Huron  Indians  landed  from  their 
canoes  where  the  promontory  of  Ticonderoga,  or 
"meeting  of  waters,"  reaches  into  "Lake  Iroquois" 
(as  Lake  Champlain  was  then  called).  After  a 
night  of  hideous  taunts  and  savage  threats,  they 
hurried  to  the  attack  of  nearly  two  hundred  Mo 
hawk  warriors.  The  weapons  were  the  arrows  and 
spears  of  the  Stone  Age.  Appalled  by  the  numbers 
of  their  opponents,  the  assailants  called  for  help. 
From  beneath  the  furs  that  covered  them  as  they 
lay  in  canoes  along  the  shore,  three  white  men  arose. 
Astonished  by  the  presence  of  seemingly  super 
natural  beings,  the  Mohawks  paused.  As  they 
poised  their  arrows  to  shoot,  two  of  the  white  men 
lifted  their  strange  weapons.  When  the  bell-shaped 
mouths  belched  forth  their  terrifying  thunder,  two 
Mohawk  chiefs  fell  dead  and  a  third  was  wounded. 
Little  did  Champlain,  the  romantic  French  ex- 


RED  JACKET 


plorer,  know  that  his  rashness  would  profoundly 
affect  the  history  of  the  American  continent. 

The  Mohawks  were  the  most  easterly  tribe  of  the 
Iroquois  Confederacy.  Before  the  coming  of  white 
men  the  Iroquois  had  lived  north  of  the  St.  Law 
rence.  Hochelega,  the  site  of  Montreal,  was  once 
one  of  their  towns.  By  the  fierce  Adirondacks,  a 
tribe  of  the  Algonquin  peoples,  they  had  been  driven 
southward  to  what  is  now  the  State  of  New  York. 
Here  they  finally  divided  into  five  tribes,  named 
the  Senecas,  the  Cayugas,  the  Onondagas,  the 
Oneidas  and  the  Mohawks.  The  confederacy  that 
they  then  formed  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
political  organizations  in  the  story  of  red  men. 
They  sought  to  induce  their  kin,  the  Hurons,  some 
of  the  Eries  and  others  of  Iroquoian  stock  to  join. 
None  did,  except  the  Tuscaroras;  the  rest,  as  well 
as  the  much  more  numerous  Algonquins,  composed 
of  scores  of  great  tribes,  the  Iroquois  ever  held  in 
enmity. 

It  is  supposed  that  the  migration  from  Canada  to 
New  York  occurred  about  1350,  that  about  a  cen 
tury  later  the  confederacy  was  established,  and  that 
the  Five  Nations  were  joined  by  the  Tuscaroras 
about  1712.  The  country  that  they  inhabited 
stretched  from  the  eastern  end  of  Lake  Erie  to  the 
valley  of  the  Hudson.  This  territory  was  spoken 
of  as  the  "Long  House."  The  Onondagas  were 
called  the  "Fathers  of  the  Confederacy."  At  their 
principal  village,  not  far  from  where  Syracuse,  New 


RED  JACKET 


York,  now  is,  the  great  council  house  was  main 
tained,  and  in  it  the  council  fire  was  ever  burning. 
The  Mohawks  were  known  as  the  "Eldest  Brother," 
and  the  guardians  of  the  eastern  gate  of  the  "Long 
House."  The  Oneidas  were  the  "Heads" ;  the  Cayu- 
gas,  the  "Youngest  Brother";  and  the  Senecas,  the 
"Watchmen  of  the  Western  Gate."  The  traditions 
of  the  origin  of  the  "United  People,"  as  the  Iroquois 
translated  their  confederate  name,  and  the  form  and 
workings  of  their  government  are  worthy  of  de 
tailed  study.  It  is  here  remarkable  that,  greatly 
outnumbered  as  they  were  by  their  Indian  enemies, 
never  were  they  overcome  by  other  red  men. 

Champlain's  killing  of  the  two  Mohawk  chiefs 
gained  for  the  French  the  deep  enmity  of  the  con 
federacy.  While  the  Iroquois  nation  did  not,  on 
the  coming  of  the  white  men,  exceed  twelve  thou 
sand  souls,  for  a  century  and  a  half  they  held  the 
arms  of  the  French  at  bay.  Because  of  their  con 
trol  of  Lake  Erie,  the  French  missionaries,  soldiers, 
traders  and  voyageurs  on  their  westward  journey 
were  obliged  to  travel  up  the  Ottawa  River,  and 
by  the  various  water  routes  and  portages  make  way 
to  Georgian  Bay  and  Lake  Huron.  By  the  Iro 
quois,  more  southerly  routes  and  posts  were  denied 
the  French.  The  Dutch  and  the  English,  as  their 
successors,  who  gained  the  friendship  of  this  most 
powerful  association  of  Indians  on  the  continent, 
ultimately  achieved  supremacy  in  the  westward 


RED  JACKET 


march  along  the  southern  shores  of  the  Great  Lakes 
and  in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio. 

A  people  who  could  so  vitally  affect  a  continent's 
story  must  have  had  able  leaders.  Most  of  their 
principal  men  were  great  warriors.  One  of  them, 
not  famous  as  a  warrior,  never  having  won  the  right 
to  wear  the  Eagle's  feather,  gained  the  sachemship 
of  his  people  thru  the  power  of  his  eloquence.  Even 
among  savages  is  the  art  of  persuasion  useful. 
Especially  was  this  true  of  the  Seneca  Sagoyewatha, 
or,  as  he  is  better  known,  Red  Jacket. 

The  American  Indians  produced,  many  great  ora 
tors.  The  imagery  of  men  who  live  close  to  nature 
always  appeals.  But  words  and  imagery  are  not 
the  principal  stuff  of  which  orations  are  made.  The 
orator  must  have  a  theme — one  that  is  fed  from  his 
very  soul,  if  he  would  speak  with  authority.  This 
Red  Jacket  had.  It  was  his  implacable  opposition 
to  the  civilization,  the  religion  and  the  westward 
advance  of  white  men.  For  his  and  future  genera 
tions  of  red  men  he  pleaded.  The  preservation  of 
the  Indian's  home  and  his  hunting  grounds,  as  the 
Great  Spirit  had  given  them,  was  the  theme  that 
called  up  his  greatest  powers.  Once  he  said:  "We 
stand  a  small  island  in  the  bosom  of  the  Great 
Waters.  We  are  encircled.  We  are  encompassed. 
The  evil  spirit  rides  upon  the  blast,  and  the  waters 
are  disturbed.  They  rise,  they  press  upon  us,  and, 
the  waves  once  settled  over  us,  we  disappear  for 
ever.  Who  then  lives  to  mourn  us?  No  one.  What 


RED  JACKET 


marks  our  extermination?    Nothing.    We  are  min 
gled  with  the  common  elements." 

Sagoyewatha  probably  is  the  only  great  Indian 
leader  who  owed  his  sachemship  entirely  to  his  ora 
torical  abilities.  He  was  born  on  Seneca  Lake,  New 
York,  in  1751,  and  named  O-te-ti-ani,  or  "Always 
Ready."  On  coming  to  the  sachemship,  he  was 
christened  Sagoyewatha,  which  means,  "He  keeps 
them  awake."  In  his  youth  he  learned  to  track  and 
to  hunt.  He  was  taught  to  observe  and  to  reason. 
The  bruise  on  a  leaf,  the  bending  of  a  twig,  a  dis 
turbance  in  the  moss  or  dust,  and  the  thousands  of 
things  that  to  the  untrained  go  unobserved,  or  are 
meaningless,  to  him,  as  to  all  Indians,  told  how, 
what,  when,  who,  where  and  why.  That  white  men 
could  likewise  develop  their  powers  of  observation 
in  the  wilderness  is  shown  by  Boone,  who  for  years 
lived  in  "the  dark  and  bloody  ground"  woodlands, 
depending  for  life  upon  his  alertness  and  skill. 
Simon  Kenton,  whose  life  was  one  of  the  most  ro 
mantic  of  the  western  pioneers,  avoided  or  met 
successfully  thousands  of  dangers  through  the  use 
of  the  craft  which  was  the  Indian's  educational  cur 
riculum.  Then  there  were  the  Seviers,  Robertsons, 
Steiners,  Wetzels,  Manskers  and  many  other  In 
dian  fighters  who  lived  where  every  bush  had  its 
threat  of  death,  every  tree  lifted  a  possible  shield  for 
a  savage  enemy,  and  the  pleasant  sounds  of  the 
woodland  might  be  the  deceptive  calls  of  skulking 
foes. 


RED  JACKET 


In  the  veins  of  Sagoyewatha  ran  no  chieftain's 
blood.  His  birth  was  lowly,  even  among  the  In 
dians.  Fortunately,  the  red  men  recognized  no  roy 
alty  except  that  of  performance;  birth  bestowed 
no  honors  except  that  greatest  of  all  honors,  an 
equal  opportunity  to  succeed  through  effort. 

As  a  young  man  he  was  fleet  of  foot.  Among 
his  people  he  was  often  employed  as  a  runner  to 
carry  intelligence,  which  perhaps  at  times  took  him 
to  the  Great  Council  House  in  the  land  of  the  Onon- 
dagas.  In  the  war  of  the  American  Revolution  he 
served  on  the  border  as  runner  for  British  officers. 
By  one  of  these  he  was  given  a  scarlet  jacket.  He 
wore  this,  and  a  succession  of  others  similar, 
throughout  his  life.  From  this  circumstance  he 
acquired  the  name  by  which  he  was  most  commonly 
known,  "Red  Jacket." 

Though  early  taught  the  Indian's  art  of  warfare, 
the  first  record  of  his  appearance  as  a  warrior  is 
connected  with  the  successful  American  invasion, 
under  General  Sullivan,  of  the  Cayuga  and  Seneca 
country  in  1779.  Brant,  the  great  Mohawk  chief, 
charged  Red  Jacket  with  counselling  the  warriors 
to  sue  for  an  unfavorable  peace.  When  the  Seneca 
warrior  Cornplanter  determined  to  meet  and  fight 
General  Sullivan's  troops  on  the  banks  of  Canan- 
daigua  Lake,  some  of  the  Indians,  including  Red 
Jacket,  commenced  a  retreat.  Cornplanter  tried  to 
prevent  this  withdrawal.  His  efforts  to  induce  Red 
Jacket  to  fight  were  fruitless,  and  he  charged  the 


RED  JACKET 


latter  with  cowardice.  It  is  probable  that  the 
charge  was  true.  Like  the  Roman  orator  Cicero, 
Red  Jacket  could  persuade  others  to  fight,  but  could 
not  himself  overcome  the  temptation  to  flee. 

We  next  see  Red  Jacket  at  what  is  now  Rome, 
New  York,  where  the  Indian  treaty  of  Fort  Stamoix 
was  signed  in  1784.  Following  the  peace  treaty  of 
1783  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States, 
the  white  settlers  in  New  York,  who  had  suffered 
much  from  Indian  cruelties,  demanded  the  expul 
sion  of  the  Iroquois.  Generals  Washington  and 
Schuyler  opposed  this  extremity  and  advised  that 
the  friendship  of  these  Indians,  who  had  been  mis 
led  by  the  British  officers,  should  be  won  back  by 
liberal  treatment.  To  this  end  a  council  of  the 
Chiefs  of  the  Iroquois  confederacy  was  held  at  Fort 
Stanwix.  The  principal  representatives  of  the  Six 
Nations  were  Cornplanter  and  Red  Jacket.  The 
United  States  was  represented  by  three  Commis 
sioners.  By  this  treaty  the  Indians  surrendered 
much  of  the  territory  they  had  occupied  in  New 
York,  retaining  for  themselves  considerable  strips 
of  forest.  The  story  of  the  further  surrender  of 
Indian  land  within  a  few  years  following  is  inter 
esting  in  this,  that  opponent  though  he  was  of  the 
white  advance,  on  each  purchase  made  of  Seneca 
ground  the  name  of  Sagoyewatha  appears  upon  the 
deed. 

Red  Jacket  was  an  unusual  Indian,  in  that  he 
lacked  in  physical  bravery.  He  became  a  sachem 


RED  JACKET 


through  his  oratorical  abilities.  All  Indians  loved 
eloquence,  and  the  Iroquois  more  than  others.  Be 
cause  of  this  and  his  high  intellectual  powers  his 
cowardice  seems  to  have  been  overlooked.  He  has 
been  called  a  demagogue;  it  is  likely  he  was.  He 
has  been  charged  with  treachery;  perhaps  the 
charge  was  true.  Being  overwhelmed  by  a  superior 
race,  he  finally  yielded  in  the  sale  of  Indian  lands. 
It  is  certain  that  in  his  inmost  heart  he  felt  that 
the  white  man's  ways  were  not  for  the  Indian ;  that 
the  white  man's  religion  should  not  supplant  the 
Indian's,  and  that  the  forests  and  valleys  teeming 
with  game  were  intended  by  the  Great  Spirit  for 
the  Indian's  possession,  unchanged,  forever.  He 
saw  his  dreams  fading,  and  with  each  season's  dim 
ming  there  crept  into  his  soul  a  despair  from  which 
an  eloquence  can  spring,  as  appealing  as  the  elo 
quence  of  strife.  The  story  of  his  life,  of  his  many 
speeches,  his  negotiations  with  United  States  Com 
missioners,  his  trips  to  Philadelphia  and  to  Wash 
ington,  his  service  to  the  United  States  in  the  war 
of  1812,  his  meeting  with  LaFayette,  his  constant 
proud  wearing  of  the  silver  medal  given  him  by 
George  Washington,  his  vanities,  his  personal 
charm,  his  drunkenness  in  later  years,  his  removal 
from  his  chieftainship,  his  restoration,  his  despair 
and  his  death  in  1830,  is  filled  with  interest.  To 
recount  these  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  essay. 

All  who  ever  listened  to  him  called  him  one  of  the 
greatest  of  orators.    His  speeches  were  made  in  his 


RED  JACKET 


native  tongue;  such  as  have  been  preserved  have 
come  to  us  through  interpreters,  and  in  translation 
perhaps  they  have  lost  some  of  their  original  power. 
Certainly  they  have  lost  the  commanding  presence, 
the  proud  bearing,  the  flashing  eye  and  the  expres 
sive  face  and  body  of  the  orator.  Thus  handicapped, 
read  these  sentences: 

"There  was  a  time  when  our  forefathers  owned 
this  great  island.  Their  seats  extended  from  the 
rising  to  the  setting  sun.  The  Great  Spirit  had 
made  it  for  the  use  of  Indians.  He  had  created  the 
buffalo,  the  deer  and  other  animals  for  food.  He 
had  made  the  bear  and  the  beaver.  Their  skins 
served  us  for  clothing.  He  had  scattered  them  over 
the  country  and  taught  us  how  to  take  them.  He 
had  caused  the  earth  to  produce  corn  for  bread. 
All  this  he  had  done  for  his  red  children,  because 
he  loved  them.  If  we  had  some  disputes  about  our 
hunting  ground,  they  were  generally  settled  with 
out  the  shedding  of  much  blood.  But  an  evil  day 
came  upon  us.  Your  forefathers  crossed  the  great 
water  and  landed  on  this  island.  Their  numbers 
were  small.  They  found  friends,  and  not  enemies. 
They  told  us  they  had  fled  from  their  own  country 
for  fear  of  wicked  men  and  had  come  here  to  enjoy 
their  religion.  They  asked  for  a  small  seat.  We 
took  pity  on  them,  granted  their  request,  and  they 
sat  down  amongst  us.  We  gave  them  corn  and 
meat.  They  gave  us  poison  in  return. 

"The  white  people,  Brother,  had  now  found  our 


RED  JACKET 


country.  Tidings  were  carried  back,  and  more  came 
amongst  us.  Yet  we  did  not  fear  them.  We  took 
them  to  be  friends.  They  called  us  brothers.  We 
believed  them  and  gave  them  a  larger  seat.  At 
length  their  numbers  had  greatly  increased.  They 
wanted  more  land.  They  wanted  our  country.  Our 
eyes  were  opened  and  our  minds  became  uneasy. 
Wars  took  place.  Indians  were  hired  to  fight 
against  Indians,  and  many  of  our  people  were 
destroyed.  They  also  brought  strong  liquor 
amongst  us.  It  was  strong  and  powerful,  and  has 
slain  thousands. 

"Our  seats  were  once  large,  and  yours  were  small. 
You  have  now  become  a  great  people,  and  we  have 
scarcely  a  place  left  to  spread  our  blankets.  You 
have  got  our  country,  but  are  not  satisfied ;  you  want 
to  force  your  religion  upon  us. 

"Brother,  continue  to  listen.  You  say  you  are 
sent  to  instruct  us  how  to  worship  the  Great  Spirit 
agreeably  to  his  mind ;  and,  if  we  do  not  take  hold 
of  the  religion  which  you  white  people  teach  we 
shall  be  unhappy  hereafter.  You  say  that  you  are 
right  and  we  are  lost.  How  do  we  know  this  to  be 
true?  We  understand  that  your  religion  is  written 
in  a  book.  If  it  was  intended  for  us  as  well  as  you, 
why  has  not  the  Great  Spirit  given  to  us,  and  not 
only  to  us,  but  why  did  he  not  give  to  our  fore 
fathers,  the  knowledge  of  that  book,  with  the  means 
of  understanding  it  rightly?  We  only  know  what 
you  tell  us  about  it.  How  shall  we  know  when  to 


RED  JACKET 


believe,  being  so  often  deceived  by  the  white  peo 
ple? 

"You  say  there  is  but  one  way  to  worship  and 
serve  the  Great  Spirit.  If  there  is  but  one  religion, 
why  do  you  white  people  differ  so  much  about  it? 
Why  not  all  agree  as  you  can  all  read  the  book? 

"Brother,  we  do  not  understand  these  things.  We 
are  told  that  your  religion  was  given  to  your  fore 
fathers  and  has  been  handed  down  from  father  to 
son.  We  also  have  a  religion  which  was  given  to 
our  forefathers  and  has  been  handed  down  to  us, 
their  children.  We  worship  in  that  way.  It  teaches 
us  to  be  thankful  for  all  the  favors  we  receive,  to 
love  each  other,  and  to  be  united.  We  never  quarrel 
about  religion. 

"The  Great  Spirit  has  made  us  all,  but  he  has 
made  a  great  difference  between  his  white  and  red 
children.  He  has  given  us  different  complexions 
and  different  customs.  To  you  he  has  given  the 
arts.  To  these  he  has  not  opened  our  eyes.  We 
know  these  things  to  be  true.  Since  he  has  made 
so  great  a  difference  between  us  in  other  things, 
why  may  we  not  conclude  that  he  has  given  us  a 
different  religion  according  to  our  understanding? 
'The  Great  Spirit  does  right.  He  knows  what  is 
best  for  his  children.  We  are  satisfied. 

"Brother,  we  do  not  wish  to  destroy  your  reli 
gion,  or  take  it  from  you.  We  only  want  to  enjoy 
our  own. 

"We  are  told  that  you  have  been  preaching  to  the 


RED  JACKET 


white  people  in  this  place.  These  people  are  our 
neighbors.  We  are  acquainted  with  them.  We  will 
wait  a  little  while  and  see  what  effect  your  preach 
ing  has  upon  them.  If  we  find  it  does  them  good, 
makes  them  honest  and  less  disposed  to  cheat  In 
dians,  we  will  then  consider  again  of  what  you  have 
said." 

These  able  and  eloquent  observations  were  made 
by  Red  Jacket  at  Buffalo  Creek  in  1805,  in  response 
to  a  missionary  who  was  planning  a  station  among 
the  Senecas.  The  questions  of  the  Indian  should 
have  been  answered.  The  missionary  did  not  try. 

On  another  similar  occasion  Red  Jacket  said: 
"We  do  not  worship  the  Great  Spirit  as  the  white 
men  do,  but  we  believe  that  forms  of  worship  are 
indifferent  to  the  Great  Spirit;  it  is  the  offering  of 
a  sincere  heart  that  pleases  him,  and  we  worship 
him  in  this  manner." 

A  student  of  Red  Jacket's  life  is  struck  with  the 
thought  that  even  a  savage  bereft  of  most  of  the 
qualities  that  make  a  savage  great  was  able,  through 
the  keenness  of  his  desire  to  become  an  orator,  to 
so  succeed  that  his  abilities  in  the  line  of  his  choice 
placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  greatest  Indian  gov 
ernment  this  Continent  has  known.  An  American 
may  appropriately  ask  himself  if  the  principal  sub 
ject  of  Red  Jacket's  eloquence — opposition  to  the 
Westward  advance  of  the  whites — was  morally  well 
grounded.  Whatever  his  answer  may  be,  it  must 
be  accompanied  by  pity  for  the  aborigines  of  this 


RED  JACKET 


Continent.  That  natural  pity  will  not,  however, 
wipe  from  the  imagination  of  one  who  knows  his 
country's  history  the  scenes  of  horror  that  often 
steeled  the  American  pioneer  against  those  who 
opposed  his  Westward  way.  In  page  after  page  of 
American  annals,  we  see  painted  warriors  skulking 
near  the  edge  of  the  clearing  waiting  to  glut  their 
savage  vengeance  upon  the  lone  settler  and  his  fam 
ily.  When  night  falls,  the  tomahawk  gleams  in  the 
light  of  the  cabin's  flame.  The  morning  reveals  the 
charred  ruins  of  a  home  and  the  scalpless  corpses 
of  its  occupants. 

In  the  broad  forests  every  glory  of  nature  sug 
gests  a  hidden  foe  waiting  to  deal  his  sudden  death 
to  the  struggling  traveler.  We  see  the  quick  raids 
on  the  small  settlement,  the  stout  defense,  and 
sometimes  its  breaking  before  the  fierce  horde. 
Then  comes  the  swift  slaying,  the  gory  scalping 
knife  and  the  taking  of  women  to  worse  than  death. 

Again  we  can  see  captives  on  their  weary  marches 
to  the  Indian  villages,  the  merciless  running  of  the 
gauntlet,  the  tortures  indescribable,  and  the  burn 
ing  at  the  stake  amid  the  horrid  dance  of  demons 
'and  fiendish  laughter.  Cruelty  unspeakable!  Suf 
fering — how  terrible! 

In  the  darkest  annals  of  mankind — among  the 
most  cunning  tortures  of  the  Inquisition — where 
can  one  look  for  a  story  of  outrages  that  exceeds, 
in  its  ingenuity  for  inflicting  pain,  that  of  the  as 
saults  made  by  Indians  in  the  forests  of  the  East 


RED  JACKET 


and  on  the  plains  of  the  West  upon  our  American 
progenitors?  Where  in  the  record  of  a  people  can 
one  find  a  history  more  heroic  than  that  of  those 
men  and  women  who,  undaunted  by  the  fiercest  and 
ablest  savage  fighters  the  world  has  ever  known, 
made  the  settlers'  march  across  this  great  continent? 

Were  the  whites  always  kind  and  charitable  to 
the  red  men?  No,  indeed!  Sometimes  they  were 
grossly  unjust,  sometimes  terrible  in  their  punish 
ment.  Could  human  nature  be  expected  to  be  calm 
and  always  fair  when  in  the  memory  was  seared 
forever  a  picture  of  the  savage  murder  of  parents 
or  of  a  sweetheart  or  wife  in  the  clutches  of  a  dirty 
chieftain,  or  of  children  impaled,  or  of  one  or  many 
of  the  thousand  wrongs  that  white  men  suffered  at 
the  Indians'  hands? 

The  noble  qualities  that  Indians  sometimes  dis 
played  should  be  remembered.  The  wonderful 
friendships  that  American  annals  here  and  there 
reveal  between  a  red  man  and  a  white  should  not 
be  forgotten.  The  acts  of  charity  sprinkled  in  the 
story  of  this  barbaric  people  should  be  preserved 
in  our  history.  The  wonderful  myths  of  the  red 
men,  simple  but  eloquent,  with  their  love  of  nature 
and  their  profound  belief  in  the  Great  Spirit  should 
be  kept  in  memory.  The  passing  of  their  earthly 
hunting  grounds  and  the  leaving  only  of  the  Happy 
one  of  their  hereafter  should  not  be  overlooked. 
Mindful  of  all  this  we  also  should  not  forget  that  the 
Americans  who  toiled  on  toward  the  West  fought 


RED  JACKET 


the  greatest  fight  against  aboriginal  inhabitants  that 
the  history  of  new  settlements  knows. 

Would  anyone  now  wish  they  might  have  lost? 
Could  anyone  argue  that  Columbus  should  not  have 
sailed,  that  Jamestown  should  never  have  been,  and 
that  the  Pilgrims  should  never  have  landed,  and 
that  the  whole  train  of  consequences  that  have  fol 
lowed  should  not  have  followed? 

Sentimentalists  may  say  that  the  Indians  were 
here  first,  and  that  the  continent  was  theirs.  But 
they  exercised  no  ownership,  in  the  white  man's 
sense  of  ownership.  The  portions  of  North  America 
in  their  actual  possession  were  small.  Because  they 
came  here  at  some  time  long  before  the  advent  of 
white  men,  should  the  rest  of  the  earth's  population 
have  forever  held  aloof  and  should  the  whole  con 
tinent  have  remained  a  vast  wilderness?  Should  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  often  asserted  to  be  capable  of 
producing  enough  foodstuffs  to  feed  the  entire 
earth's  population,  have  remained  a  feeding  ground 
for  the  buffalo  and  the  exclusive  habitat — save  for 
its  wild  animals — of  the  few  Indian  tribes  who 
migrated  within  it? 

Should  the  Indian  have  permitted  the  fields  al 
ways  to  remain  fallow  and  the  minerals  of  the  earth 
ever  to  be  unused?  Many  will  say  "no";  but,  how 
ever  we  answer,  it  is  certain  that  every  foot  of 
American  soil  that  any  Indians  ever  claimed  to  own, 
whether  they  possessed  it  or  not,  whether  they  had 
the  grant  of  any  right  to  possess  it  or  not,  was 


RED  JACKET 


bought,  not  as  conquerors  buy,  but  by  purchasing 
Americans  who  paid  therefor  in  full.  Into  the  In 
dian  lands  have  been  put  generations  of  toil  by  mil 
lions  of  men  and  women.  Where  the  huts  or 
wigwams  of  the  Indians  once  stood  are  great  cities 
teeming  with  useful  human  life.  On  the  lakes  where 
once  danced  his  bark  canoe,  great  vessels  ply. 
Where  once  was  heard  the  piercing  war  cry  now 
rises  the  hum  of  industry  and  there  flourish  the  use 
ful  arts.  The  Indians  are  scattered.  Wars  with 
them  have  long  since  ceased.  Many  of  them  are 
civilized.  Men  of  Indian  blood  sit  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States.  Even  the  Indians,  as  are 
all  others,  are  richer,  happier  and  better  that 
through  suffering  and  struggle  the  wilderness  and 
deserts  of  America  have  come  to  blossom  and  yield 
vastly. 

The  Indian  Sagoyewatha,  tutored  only  by  the 
wilderness,  who  hoped  that  his  dust  would  never 
be  enclosed  in  a  white  man's  burial  place,  now 
sleeps  in  Forest  Lawn  Cemetery  in  Buffalo,  New 
York,  among  thousands  of  his  enemies.  The  im 
placable  opponent  of  the  white  man's  onward  march 
now  rests  within  a  great  city  built  by  hands  he  would 
have  stayed.  Beside  him  is  the  dust  of  other  great 
Indian  leaders— Tall  Peter,  Little  Billy,  Captain 
Pollard,  The  Young  King,  Destroy  Town  and  Deer- 
foot.  Strange  it  is  that  beside  him  who  thought 
that  no  red  man  could  learn  the  ways  of  white  men, 
are  the  ashes  of  the  full  blooded  Seneca,  General 


RED  JACKET 


Ely  S.  Parker,  who,  in  the  Civil  War  served  on 
the  staff  of  General  Grant.  Above  the  dust  of  these 
aboriginal  Americans  stands  a  heroic  bronze  statue 
of  Red  Jacket.  Its  attitude  is  that  of  the  orator, 
confident  in  himself  and  confident  in  his  cause.  On 
the  pedestal  beneath  are  engraven  these  words, 
once  by  him  uttered: 

"When  I  am  gone  and  my  warnings  are  no 
longer  heeded,  the  craft  and  avarice  of  the  white 
man  will  prevail.  *  *  *  My  heart  fails  me 
when  I  think  of  my  people  so  soon  to  be  scattered 
and  forgotten." 

Red  Jacket's  dreams  of  an  everlasting  wilderness 
are  buried  with  him.  The  white  man  has  prevailed, 
not  through  "craft  and  avarice,"  but  through  the 
cultivation  of  those  virtues  which  are  now  the  basis 
of  our  national  life. 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 
(From  the  statue   by    Charles   J.   Mulligan,    at   Quincy,    Illinois) 


A  little  less  than  a  century  and  a 
half  ago  a  small  band  of  armed  fron 
tiersmen,  led  by  George  Rogers  Clark, 
took  and  held  a  territory  in  which  is 
now  the  center  of  the  population  of 
the  United  States.  How  rapid  was  the 
westward  movement  when  once  be" 
gun! 


George  Rogers  Clark 

"What  cordial  welcomes  greet  the  guest 
By  thy  lone  rivers  of  the  West; 
How  faith  is  kept,  and  truth  revered, 
And  man  is  loved,  and  God  is  feared, 

In  woodland  homes, 
And  where  the  ocean  border  foams." 

—William  Cullen  Bryant. 

THE  old  Northwest  Territory,  from  which  was 
carved  the  states  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  has  a  most  interesting 
history.  About  it  clusters  a  group  of  names  whose 
mention  suggests  intrepidity  of  soul  and  self  sacri 
fice.  Among  the  earliest  of  these  are  those  of  Jean 
Nicollet,  LaSalle,  Hennepin,  Radisson,  Du  Luth, 
Marquette,  Joliet,  Tonty  and  other  missionaries  and 
explorers,  who,  in  zeal  for  their  Church  or  their 
King  adventured  far  by  land  and  water  into  the 
trackless  wildernesses  of  the  continental  interior.  Of 
each  of  them  many  heroic  tales  are  preserved.  From 
the  time  of  Jean  Nicollet's  coming  to  Green  Bay,  on 
his  quest  for  China,  until  the  French  and  Indian 
War,  such  ownership  as  white  men  exercised  in  this 
vast  area  was  French.  Upon  the  conclusion  of  that 
war,  for  twelve  years  it  was  English  territory,  a  part 
of  the  province  of  Quebec.  The  change  to  American 
ownership  came  suddenly,  in  a  dramatic  episode, 
the  chief  actor  in  which  is  entitled  to  the  profound 
thanks  of  the  generations  that  have  followed. 
On  the  evening  of  July  4th,  1778,  the  British  gar- 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 


rison  of  the  fort  at  Kaskaskia  gave  a  ball.  The 
French  Creoles  of  this  little  Illinois  river  settle 
ment  attended.  The  scene  which  the  flaming 
torches  revealed  was  one  of  backwoods  gayety.  In 
the  midst  of  the  revels  a  tall,  blue-eyed  stranger 
stepped  quietly  within  the  hall,  and  for  a  time 
leaned  against  the  wall,  unnoticed  by  the  dancers. 
Calmly  he  stood,  undisturbing  and  undisturbed. 
Suddenly  an  Indian  yell  rent  the  air.  It  came  from 
a  sharp-eyed  savage  who  had  been  intently  study 
ing  the  bronzed  face  of  the  stranger.  That  single 
whoop  of  recognition  marked  the  end  of  British 
power  from  the  western  limits  of  the  struggling 
colonies  to  the  Mississippi  river.  The  stranger  was 
George  Rogers  Clark,  the  bold  leader  of  a  little  army 
that  was  then  posted  about  the  place. 

He  stepped  forward  and  bade  the  dance  go  on, 
saying  that  now  and  henceforth  they  danced  under 
the  American  and  not  under  the  British  flag. 

This  account  is  published  in  Denny's  "Memoir  of 
Major  Ebenezer  Denny."  An  artist's  representa 
tion  of  it  is  found  in  Lodge's  "Story  of  the  Revolu 
tion."  In  Clark's  letter  to  George  Mason  of  Vir 
ginia,  written  November  19,  1779,  he  makes  no  men 
tion  of  the  incident  of  the  ball,  but  writes  of  the 
taking  of  Kaskaskia  as  follows:  "I  immediately 
divided  my  little  army  into  two  Divisions,  ordered 
one  to  secure  the  Town,  with  the  other  I  broke  into 
the  Fort,  secured  the  Governour  Mr.  Rockblave,  in 
15  minutes  had  every  Street  secured,  sent  Runners 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 


through  the  Town  ordering  the  People  on  the  pane 
of  Death  to  keep  close  to  their  Houses,  which  they 
observed  and  before  daylight  had  the  whole  dis 
armed."  He  made  a  similar  statement  in  his 
memoirs — probably  written  in  1791. 

Whatever  the  details,  certain  it  is  that  the  English 
Commandant  was  made  a  prisoner;  no  resistance 
was  offered ;  no  blood  was  shed.  Clark's  work  was 
well  begun.  His  force  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men 
invested  the  town.  The  terror  of  the  French  popu 
lation  turned  to  joy  when  the  American  leader  of 
fered  to  treat  them  as  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

The  consequences  of  this  drama  were  tremendous. 
Before  considering  them,  let  us  look  for  a  moment 
at  its  chief  actor. 

In  the  year  1752,  in  a  little  farm  house  situated 
about  a  mile  from  Monticello,  Virginia,  the  home 
of  Thomas  Jefferson,  George  Rogers  Clark  was  born. 
It  is  probable  that  in  his  youth  for  some  months  he 
and  James  Madison  together  attended  the  school 
of  one  Donald  Robertson.  Like  many  of  the  ambi 
tious  young  men  of  his  time,  Clark  became  a  sur 
veyor.  When  nineteen  years  old,  he  journeyed 
westward  on  an  expedition  to  the  upper  Ohio  Val 
ley.  He  finally  built  his  cabin  about  twenty-five 
miles  below  Wheeling,  near  where  Fish  Creek  en 
ters  the  Ohio.  There  he  grew  a  crop  of  corn,  hunted, 
fished,  and,  as  he  wrote  his  brother  Jonathan  in 
1773,  received  "a  good  deal  of  cash  by  surveying 
on  this  river."  In  1774  the  conflicts  between  the 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 


Indians  and  the  few  settlers  who  had  ventured  into 
the  hunting  grounds  of  Kentucky  culminated  in 
Lord  Dunmore's  War.  In  this  Clark  served  under 
the  famous  Indian  fighter  and  pioneer,  Col.  Cresap. 
In  1776  he  went  to  Kentucky.  A  meeting  of  set' 
tiers  held  at  Harrodsburg  in  June  of  that  year  chose 
Clark  and  one  John  Gabriel  Jones  to  represent  them 
in  the  Virginia  legislature  then  in  session  at  Wil- 
liamsburg.  The  two  delegates  made  their  way 
through  Cumberland  Gap  over  Boone's  Wilderness 
Road  to  Williamsburg,  arriving  after  the  legisla 
ture's  adjournment.  Through  Governor  Patrick 
Henry,  Clark  secured  from  the  Executive  Council 
of  Virginia,  for  the  Kentucky  inhabitants,  five  hun 
dred  pounds  of  powder,  which  was  delivered  at 
Pittsburg.  Thence  it  was  taken  down  the  Ohio 
River  probably  to  a  point  near  Manchester,  Ohio, 
and  hidden  to  await  the  gathering  of  a  sufficient 
force  to  carry  it  to  interior  Kentucky  points.  While 
Clark  was  pushing  on  to  Harrodsburg  for  this  pur 
pose,  a  Col.  Todd  arrived  and  provided  Jones  an 
escort.  On  their  way  from  Licking  Creek  to  the 
powder  caches  they  were  attacked  and  routed  by 
Indians,  Jones  and  two  others  being  killed  and 
several  taken  prisoners.  From  Harrodsburg,  thirty 
men,  among  them  Simon  Kenton,  started  for  the 
powder  on  January  2,  1777.  They  successfully  ob 
tained  it.  Small  as  this  supply  now  seems,  its  im 
portance  was  tremendous.  Without  this  ammuni 
tion,  it  is  probable  that  in  the  Indian  border  war- 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 


fare  the  Kentucky  pioneers  could  not  have  survived. 
In  the  French  villages  north  of  the  Ohio,  and 
then  under  British  domination,  the  red  men  were 
frequently  incited  to  gather  their  war  parties  for 
forays  against  the  sparse  Kentucky  settlements. 
Clark  determined  to  march  against  these  principal 
posts.  With  such  slight  help  as  Patrick  Henry, 
Virginia's  Governor,  could  give  Clark  was  enabled 
to  equip  a  small  army  of  pioneer  riflemen  for  the 
audacious  project.  Under  severe  difficulties  this 
band  proceeded  down  the  Ohio  to  its  falls.  Here 
Clark,  with  huts  of  logs,  made  the  small  beginnings 
of  what  afterward  became  Louisville,  Kentucky. 
From  Louisville,  so  named  in  honor  of  the  French 
king  with  whom  the  American  alliance  had  just 
been  made,  they  marched  first  through  forests  and 
then  over  prairies,  where  buffalo  still  roamed.  They 
traveled  by  night  and  hid  by  day,  for  the  Indian 
allies  of  the  British  were  abroad.  Here  no  bands 
played — no  fifes  shrilled — no  drums  beat — no  proud 
chargers  pranced — no  artillery  rattled.  There  were 
none  of  the  usual  accompaniments  of  an  invading 
army.  At  the  head  of  the  dauntless  invaders  the 
leader  walked  silently — a  handsome  youth  was  he, 
blue-eyed  and  with  red-tinged  hair.  He  was  six  feet 
tall,  of  powerful  frame  and  fit  in  body  and  in  mind 
to  lead  his  rough  unlettered  followers.  Most  of  them 
wore  the  usual  seam-fringed  buckskin  leggins ;  their 
feet  were  moccasined.  From  shoulder  to  knee  hung 
the  long  rudely  ornamented  and  belted  hunting  shirt 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 


of  deerskin.  Their  accouterments  were  a  pouch  for 
food  and  ammunition,  a  powder  horn,  a  tomahawk, 
a  scalping  knife  and  a  long  barreled,  small-bored 
flint-lock  rifle.  As  the  Kaskaskia  garrison  outnum 
bered  the  Americans,  surprise  tactics  were  required. 
On  the  afternoon  of  the  second  anniversary  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  they  waited  in  the 
woods  beyond  the  outskirts  of  the  village.  Under 
cover  of  darkness  they  surrounded  it.  Then  came 
the  bloodless  victory.  The  officers  were  captured, 
the  garrison  and  townspeople  disarmed,  and  by 
nightfall  of  July  5  the  inhabitants  had  taken  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  new  Republic. 

A  Catholic  priest,  Pierre  Gibault,  asked  if  the 
church  could  be  opened.  Clarli  made  reply  that  he 
had  nothing  to  do  with  any  church,  save  to  defend 
it  from  insult. 

A  part  of  Clark's  force  then  marched  on  Cahokia. 
The  news  of  the  events  at  Kaskaskia  had  preceded 
them.  At  Cahokia  the  French  Creoles  became 
friendly  to  the  Americans.  The  Indians,  however, 
could  not  understand  this  sudden  change  of  senti 
ment.  In  an  effort  to  understand  it,  they  came 
from  far  off.  Representatives  of  all  the  tribes  be 
tween  the  Mississippi  and  the  Great  Lakes  gathered 
in  great  numbers  at  Cahokia. 

There  were  many  pow-wows.  Some  of  the 
warriors  tried  to  capture  Clark.  He  acted  prompt 
ly  and  decisively,  and  made  the  small  group  of  of 
fending  redmen  prisoners.  Then  calling  a  council 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 


meeting  in  true  Indian  form,  he  released  his  prison 
ers.  At  the  sullen  gathering  he  offered  a  war  belt 
to  the  savages.  By  his  defiance  and  his  eloquence, 
and  through  his  intimate  understanding  of  Indian 
character,  the  meeting  closed  in  the  acceptance  by 
the  warriors  of  a  white  belt  and  the  making  of  a 
treaty  of  peace. 

Hamilton,  the  British  commandant  at  Detroit, 
had  taken  Vincennes,  Indiana.  Thence,  in  Febru 
ary,  1778,  at  the  head  of  170  men,  many  of  them 
French  Creoles,  drilled  by  the  invading  pioneers  at 
Kaskaskia,  went  the  redoubtable  Clark.  Through 
wet  river  bottoms  and  over  prairies  they  struggled. 
They  lived  well  on  buffalo  meat,  bear,  venison  and 
turkey  until  they  neared  Vincennes.  Then  food  be 
came  scarce  and  the  way  hard.  The  garrison  at 
Vincennes — British,  Indians  and  French — outnum 
bered  Clark's  command  four  to  one.  To  the  Creole 
citizens  of  Vincennes  he  addressed  the  following 
letter: 

"Gentlemen:  Being  now  within  two  miles  of 
your  village  with  my  army,  determined  to  take 
your  Fort  this  night,  and  not  being  willing  to  sur 
prize  you,  I  take  this  method  to  request  such  of 
you  as  are  true  citizens,  and  willing  to  enjoy  the 
liberty  I  bring  you,  to  remain  still  in  your  houses. 
And  those,  if  any  there  be,  that  are  friends  to 
the  King,  will  instantly  repair  to  the  fort,  and 
join  the  HAIR-BUYER  GENERAL,  and  fight 
like  men.  And  if  any  such,  as  do  not  go  to  the 
Fort  shall  be  discovered  afterwards,  they  may 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 


depend  on  severe  punishment.  On  the  contrary, 
those  that  are  true  friends  to  liberty,  may  de 
pend  on  being  well  treated.  And  I  once  more 
request  them  to  keep  out  of  the  streets;  for 
every  one  I  find  in  arms  on  my  arrival,  I  shall 
treat  as  an  enemy." 

It  was  read  in  the  public  square.  As  the  sun  was 
setting,  the  invading  force  marched  up  the  street  to 
the  cheers  of  the  mercurial  inhabitants.  When  night 
fell,  Clark  attacked  the  fort.  Until  morning  the 
siege  lasted.  Then  came  a  pause  while  the  Ameri 
cans  demanded  of  the  "Hair  Buyer,"  as  they  called 
the  Indian  incitor,  Col.  Hamilton,  the  unconditional 
surrender  of  his  force.  This  was  refused.  The  at* 
tack  was  continued.  Soon  the  expertness  of  the 
American  riflemen  made  the  cannoneers  leave  their 
port  holes.  In  the  afternoon  the  English  capitulated 
and  the  following  morning  the  American  flag  was 
flying  over  Vincennes.  Without  artillery,  against 
trained  soldiers  protected  by  a  stockade  fort  and 
provided  with  cannon,  the  backwoodsmen  with  their 
long-barreled  small-bore  rifles  had  conquered.  With 
American  garrisons  in  Vincennes,  Kaskaskia  and 
Cahokia,  the  West  was  in  actual  occupation  by  the 
little  Revolutionary  army.  For  his  sacrifices  Clark's 
only  timely  reward  was  a  sword  presented  by  the 
legislature  of  Virginia.  The  consequence  of  his 
daring  was  that  the  vast  country  between  the  Alle- 
ghanies  and  the  Mississippi  was  made  American. 
In  the  treaty  of  peace  which  closed  the  Revolution, 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 


the  British  recognized  the  American  title,  a  title 
gained  by  the  conquering  force  of  George  Rogers 
Clark. 

Clark  contemplated  an  expedition  against  Detroit 
and  made  various  efforts  to  launch  it.  He  was  un 
able  to  procure  the  necessary  means  and  it  was 
never  undertaken. 

In  May,  1780,  Clark  arrived  at  the  junction  of  the 
Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  to  establish  a  post  "for  the 
conveniency  of  trade  and  other  purposes."  Five 
miles  below  the  Ohio's  mouth  at  the  "Iron  Banks" 
a  fort  was  built  and  in  honor  of  Clark's  old  neigh 
bor  and  friend  named  "Fort  Jefferson." 

The  Indian  raids  upon  the  frontier  continued. 
The  backwoodsmen  met  upon  the  Licking  River  to 
carry  the  war  into  the  Indian  country.  Here  they 
were  joined  by  Clark  under  whose  leadership  over 
nine  hundred  riflemen  marched  to  Chillicothe,  the 
principal  town  of  the  Shawnees.  The  Indians  had 
deserted  the  place.  The  invaders  burned  the  town. 
Thence  they  proceeded  to  Piqua  on  the  Little 
Miami,  where,  after  some  desultory  fighting,  the 
Indians,  cowed  and  disheartened,  retreated.  During 
the  remainder  of  the  year,  the  red  men  did  little 
damage.  While  the  border  warfare  was  to  a  degree 
renewed  in  1781,  conditions  were  more  tolerable  for 
the  men  of  the  West. 

Clark's  great  work  was  finished  at  the  conclusion 
of  the  Revolution.  For  many  years  and  until  his 
death  in  1818  he  lived  in  poverty  near  Louisville, 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 


Kentucky.  He  was  buried  in  Cave  Hill  Cemetery 
at  Louisville.  But  for  him  and  his  little  army, 
Franklin  and  Jay  could  not  have  succeeded  in  gain 
ing  at  the  peace  table  Great  Britain's  recognition 
of  our  country's  right  to  the  Northwest  Territory. 
Among  the  many  heroes  whom  the  story  of  our 
country  reveals,  we  never  should  forget  the  majestic 
figure  of  this  man  who  through  difficulties  of  great 
magnitude,  and  without  personal  reward,  won 
against  heavy  odds  the  vast  empire,  from  which  has 
since  been  carved  five  of  the  great  states  of  the 
American  Union. 


Ill  JMLJIIL  Jill  Jill  Jill 


STARK    MONL'MKXT   OX  THE    BATTLEFIELD 
OF   I5EXMNGTON 


How  often  have  a  few  determined 
men  changed  the  history  of  the  world? 


The  Battle  of  Bennington 

"For  a  cycle  was  closed  and  rounded, 

A  continent  lost  and  won, 
When  Stark  and  his  men  went  over 
The  earthworks  at  Bennington." 

— W.  H.  Babcock. 


THOUGH  the  most  vital  pages  of  history  relate 
to  peaceful  accomplishments,  in  the  entire 
record  of  man  probably  at  least  half  of  each  century 
has  been  reddened  by  war.  If  the  importance  of 
mankind's  battles  were  measured  by  the  numbers 
engaged,  Bennington  would  be  small;  but  it  is 
not  numbers  that  determine  a  battle's  rank.  The 
fame  of  Leonidas  and  his  three  hundred  Spartans 
will  survive  forever.  It  is  the  results  accomplished 
and  the  issues  involved  that  determine  the  im 
portance  of  conflicts.  Thus  judged,  Bennington  was 
one  of  the  great  battles  of  the  world. 

For  many  years  Englishmen  had  struggled  for 
their  rights  against  the  usurping  British  Crown. 
That  governmental  philosophy  of  oppression  and 
folly — the  divine  right  of  kings — was  asserted  by 
George  III.  The  King  and  the  majority  of  the 
English  Parliament  overrode  the  protests  of  free 
men.  In  America  came  revolt.  In  England, 
William  Pitt,  Edmund  Burke,  Charles  Fox  and 
other  able  men  gave  the  Revolutionists  staunch 
support  in  the  House  of  Commons'  debates. 

In  the  colonies,  beginning  in  April,  1775,  war  had 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BENNINGTON 


been  raging.  At  Concord  was  fired  "the  shot  heard 
'round  the  world."  Then  came  the  American  re 
pulse  at  Bunker  Hill,  the  successful  siege  of  Boston 
and  the  driving  back  of  Putnam  at  Long  Island. 
The  succession  of  American  defeats  that  followed 
and  Washington's  historic  retreat  through  New 
Jersey  were  alleviated  only  by  the  later  American 
victories  at  Princeton  and  Trenton. 

The  summer  of  1777  was  one  of  the  darkest  in  the 
Revolutionary  era.  Then  was  prepared  by  the 
British  government  what  it  thought  would  be  a  final 
blow.  Burgoyne,  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  English 
Generals,  was  placed  in  command  of  a  force  of 
seven  thousand  men.  These  were  to  march  from 
Canada  down  Lake  Champlain  to  Albany,  where 
an  English  force  from  New  York  would  meet  them. 
Thus  New  England  was  to  be  separated  from  the 
rest  of  the  colonies  and  the  cause  of  independence 
defeated.  Among  Burgoyne's  troops  were  several 
thousand  hired  Hessians;  he  was  accompanied,  too, 
by  many  Indian  warriors.  The  Indians  had  been 
enlisted  principally  through  the  influence  of  the 
famous  Mohawk  chief,  Joseph  Brant,  who  in  London 
had  been  presented  to  the  King.  Brant  promised 
George  III  the  support  of  the  redmen,  and  the 
entire  Iroquois  Confederacy  had  joined  the  British 
cause.  While  Burgoyne  was  marching  down  Lake 
Champlain,  another  British  General,  St.  Leger,  was 
leading  his  troops  through  western  New  York  to 
crush  the  Amerian  settlements  of  the  then  Far 


THE   BATTLE    OF    BENNINGTON 


West.  The  heroic  work  of  the  American  General 
Herkimer  and  of  General  Benedict  Arnold  brought 
St.  Leger's  invasion  to  defeat  and  disaster.  Bur- 
goyne  proceeded  onward.  The  American  continent 
had  never  before  seen  such  a  brilliant  military  array. 
The  plumed  British  host  seemed  invincible.  Along 
the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Champlain  came  the 
Hessian  infantry  and  the  German  dragoons.  Down 
the  Western  bank  marched  the  British  grenadiers. 
Between  the  glittering  helmets  on  the  one  shore  and 
the  scarlet  uniforms  on  the  other  the  lake  bore  the 
British  transports.  Here,  too,  plied  protecting  gun 
boats.  Hundreds  of  canoes  carried  the  horde  of 
redmen.  Artillery,  infantry,  cavalry  and  Indians 
were  steadily  advancing  on  a  mission  dreadful  to 
the  colonists.  Across  the  lake  rang  bugle  calls. 
The  mountains  echoed  the  saluting  artillery.  Ever 
southward  came  the  pulsing  drums,  the  tramp  of 
feet  and  the  enshivering  Indian  war  cries.  Oppo 
sition  was  futile.  Crown  Point  was  quickly  taken, 
then  Ticonderoga — two  years  before  conquered  by 
Ethan  Allen  and  his  men — with  many  cannon,  fell 
into  the  British  hands.  Seemingly,  the  onward 
march  of  this  thoroughly-equipped  army  of  highly- 
trained  professional  soldiers  could  not  be  stayed. 
It  was  the  American  hope  to  give  battle  before  the 
invaders  should  reach  Albany.  General  Schuyler 
sought — at  first  unsuccessfully — to  gather  sufficient 
troops  to  engage  Burgoyne. 

As  the  English  army  reached  the  southern  end 


THE   BATTLE    OF   BENNINGTON 


of  Lake  Champlain  it  was  discovered  that  the 
Americans  had  a  quantity  of  military  stores  and 
supplies  at  Bennington,  Vermont.  To  seize  them 
Burgoyne  dispatched  Colonel  Baum  and  six  hun 
dred  Hessians.  The  news  of  this  expedition  swept 
like  wildfire  through  the  frontier  settlements.  John 
Stark,  of  the  Hampshire  Grants,  then  forty-nine 
years  old,  had  fought  with  Major  Roger's  Rangers 
in  the  French  and  Indian  War.  As  a  colonel  he  had 
led  colonial  troops  in  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  At 
Princeton  and  Trenton,  Stark,  then  a  General,  had 
most  ably  supported  Washington.  To  the  "Green 
Mountain  Boys"  he  now  appealed.  Several  hundred 
gathered  to  repel  the  threatened  danger.  About 
four  miles  northwest  of  Bennington,  on  August  16, 
1777,  Stark  gave  battle.  The  British  were  en 
trenched  upon  a  hill  that  rises  from  the  Walloom- 
scoick  River.  On  three  sides  Stark  stationed  his 
troops.  Before  the  charge  was  sounded,  he  ob 
served,  "We'll  beat  them  to-day  or  Molly  Stark's  a 
widow." 

The  story  of  the  United  States  contains  accounts 
of  many  desperate  battles.  Among  these  are  the 
heroic  Texan  charge  at  San  Jacinto ;  the  sharpshoot- 
ing  of  the  Tennessee  riflemen  under  Jackson  at  New 
Orleans ;  the  valorous  onset  of  Pickett  and  his  men 
at  Gettysburg;  and  the  mad  sweep  of  the  Holston 
and  Watauga  settlers  up  King's  Mountain.  Per 
haps  in  none  of  these  was  the  disparity  in  equip 
ment  between  the  Americans  and  their  foes  so  great 


THE   BATTLE    OF   BENNINGTON 


as  at  Bennington.  The  New  Englanders  were  with 
out  bayonets;  most  of  them  had  only  their  fowling 
pieces  and  many  fought  with  the  implements  of  the 
farm.  Artillery  they  had  none.  The  desperate 
Americans  swarmed  over  the  Hessian  breastworks. 
Hand  to  hand  they  struggled.  Many,  including 
Colonel  Baum,  were  killed,  and  many  were  wounded. 
All  the  British  survivors  were  taken  prisoners. 
Prior  to  the  onslaught  Baum  had  sent  a  messenger 
to  Burgoyne  seeking  re-enforcements,  and  eight 
hundred  regulars  marched  promptly  to  the  support 
of  the  Hessian  army.  Colonel  Seth  Warner  met 
and  defeated  them  in  a  series  of  engagements. 
Burgoyne,  with  his  long  line  of  communications  to 
Canada,  needed  the  supplies,  but  he  failed  to  get 
them.  His  loss  in  troops  killed,  wounded  or  cap 
tured  at  Bennington  seriously  impaired  the  strength 
of  his  force.  The  valor  with  which  the  New  Eng 
land  farmers  fought  discouraged  the  Iroquois,  so 
in  large  numbers  they  deserted.  The  victory  of  the 
Americans  gave  heart  to  all  the  colonists,  and 
recruits  quickly  joined  Schuyler's  army.  The  de 
lay  which  the  battle  of  Bennington  occasioned 
Burgoyne  permitted  the  Americans  to  gather  for 
the  fight  at  Bemis  Heights,  more  generally  known 
as  the  Battle  of  Saratoga.  Morgan  and  his  riflemen, 
the  able  Schuyler,  the  inefficient  Gates  and  the 
dashing,  though  later  recreant,  Arnold  might  not 
have  succeeded  at  Saratoga  had  Bennington  not 
been  successfully  fought.  Because  of  this,  Benning- 


THE   BATTLE    OF   BENNINGTON 


ton  was  a  great  turning  point  of  the  Revolution. 
Burgoyne  said  that  had  he  succeeded  at  Benning- 
ton  he  would  not  have  failed  at  Saratoga. 

Following  the  defeat  of  Burgoyne's  expedition 
came  the  recognition  of  the  colonists  by  the  French 
and  their  aid  in  troops  and  ships  of  war.  The 
Americans  were  much  heartened.  In  Bennington 
was  the  earnest  of  ultimate  triumph.  At  Bemis 
Heights  a  great  monument  is  reared.  In  one  niche 
is  a  statue  of  Morgan,  in  another  one  of  Gates,  in 
another  one  of  Schuyler.  The  fourth  is  empty. 
Here,  but  for  his  later  perfidy,  would  have  stood 
the  figure  of  Benedict  Arnold.  At  the  village  of 
Bennington,  where  once  the  old  storehouse  stood,  a 
gray  granite  shaft  lifts  its  point  into  the  sky. 
On  the  field  where  John  Stark  led  his  men  to  vic 
tory,  the  men  of  Vermont,  New  Hampshire  and 
Massachusetts  wrote  with  blood  their  guarantee  of 
American  independence.  The  leveling  plow  and  a 
shielding  nature  have  concealed  the  hill  top  entrench 
ments.  The  Walloomscoick  River  flows  on,  uncon 
scious  that  over  a  century  ago  survivors  of  Benning 
ton  cleansed  their  wounds  in  its  waters.  Save  for  a 
small  monument  to  Stark,  unmarked  are  the  slopes 
where  the  New  England  farmers  charged  under  the 
burning  August  sun,  but  what  was  here  done  has 
not  perished  from  the  recollection  of  men.  In  a 
nation's  heart  endures  a  memory  more  secure  than 
legends  inscribed  on  chiseled  granite  or  molded 
bronze. 


iiniiuiiuiiniiunnnnii 


SLEEPY  HOLLOW  CHURCH,  TARKYTOWN,   N.   Y. 


Wherever    one    goes    in    America 
there  can  always  be  found  a  shrine. 


A  Trip  to  Tarrytown 

"Not  far  from  this  village,  perhaps  about  three 
miles,  there  is  a  little  valley,  or  rather  lap  of  land 
among  high  hills,  which  is  one  of  the  quietest 
places  in  the  whole  world.  A  small  brook  glides 
through  it,  with  just  murmur  enough  to  lull  one 
to  repose;  and  the  occasional  whistle  of  a  quail 
or  tapping  of  a  woodpecker,  is  almost  the  only 
sound  that  ever  breaks  in  upon  the  uniform  tran 
quillity." — Washington  Irving. 

ON  a  misty,  loury  morning  in  the  latter  part 
of  August,  we  left  New  York  City  en  route 
for  Tarrytown — there  to  visit  Washington  Irving's 
home  and  some  of  the  scenes  made  famous 
by  his  pen.  As  we  left  the  train,  we  were  at  once 
assailed  by  a  chorus  of  Jehus,  whose  call  conjured 
up  nothing  of  the  greatness  of  the  place  where  they 
plied  their  trade,— "Taxi,  taxi,"  sounds  "all  salary 
and  hire."  Finding  none  of  the  equine  friends  of 
Gunpowder,  or  their  descendants,  we  were  of  neces 
sity  required  to  bargain  for  one  of  the  modern 
peace-disturbing  air-enfouling  vehicles  at  the  mod 
erate  price  of  three  dollars  per  hour.  In  a  fine  driz 
zling  rain  we  wound  up  an  old  Tarrytown  street 
to  the  New  York- Albany  post  road.1  We  listened 
in  vain  for  a  rumbling  coach  and  rattling  harness. 
No  post  horn  warned  us  of  the  coming  of  fiery 
steeds  and  hallooing  travellers.  Instead,  along  the 
brick-paved  street  ran  gas  propelled  vehicles  of  all 
descriptions;  some  purred;  others  rattled;  some 


A  TRIP  TO  TARRYTOWN 


squeaked;  some  pounded  and  puffed;  all  were  out 
of  place.  As  we  travelled  along  toward  Sleepy  Hol 
low,  we  shut  them  all  from  sight,  hearing  and  smell. 

We  saw  the  foliage  as  Irving  must  many  times 
have  seen  it — glistening  in  the  morning  rain.  We 
were  travelling  over  the  road  that  once  on  an  au 
tumn's  night  was  traversed  by  the  disconsolate 
school  master,  Ichabod  Crane.  We  could  almost 
see  in  the  mist  his  bullet-head  and  small  peaked 
hat, — his  thin  figure  mounted  on  the  ambling  scare 
crow  of  a  horse,  his  flapping  coat-tails  and, his  de 
jected  air,  now  that  his  dream  of  happy  opulence 
had  been  shattered  by  the  calculatingly  flirtatious 
Katrina.  We  passed  the  place  where  he  had  imag 
ined  the  ghostly  presence  in  Major  Andre's  tree. 
A  tree  is  there  now — but  surely  'tis  not  over 
seventy-five  years  old!  The  tree  that  marked  the 
place  of  the  capture  of  the  British  spy  has  doubt 
less  long  since  gone  the  way  of  him  whom  it  com 
memorated.  A  monument  now  stands  beside  the 
road  telling  briefly  of  Arnold's  treason,  Andre's 
capture  and  its  discovery.  There  is  also  recorded 
the  names  of  the  captors  and  a  testimonial  from 
George  Washington  of  the  worth  of  their  work. 

We  rode  on.  Soon  we  came  to  where  Brom 
Bones,  masquerading  as  the  headless  horseman,  was 
silhouetted  against  the  sky,  striking  terror  into  the 
fugitive  pedagogue.  We  descended  to  the  creek. 
On  the  hill  beyond,  still  stands — where  it  has  stood 
since  1697 — the  same  church  that  gave  Ichabod 


A  TRIP  TO  TARRYTOWN 


(in  his  reliance  on  the  Dutch  housevrouw's  tale) 
the  hope  that  was  so  quickly  and  rudely  shattered 
by  a  pumpkin.  The  old  bridge  over  which  the  flee 
ing  steeds  hurried  is  no  more.  In  its  stead  a  trim 
concrete  structure  greets  the  traveller,  and  a  bronze 
plate,  countersunk  in  one  of  its  sides,  tells  of  its 
early  progenitor.  In  front  of  the  church  we  halted. 
The  building  was  closed  but  through  a  half  open 
shutter  the  wooden  pews  were  visible.  It  was  here 
that  Katrina  had  so  often,  unconsciously,  succeeded 
in  centering  the  covert  attention  of  so  many  swains 
during  prayer.  These  walls  had  once  been  vibrant 
with  the  nasal  quaver  of  the  odd  hero  of  Irving's 
"Legend  of  Sleepy  Hollow."  In  the  surrounding 
yard  many  tombstones  tell  their  brief  story  of  the 
dust  beneath  them — names,  dates  of  birth  and  o£ 
death.  To  the  stranger,  these  tell  only  that  here  is 
now  common  clay.  Below  the  cemetery  the  stream 
winds  around  in  a  deep  steep-sided  valley.  It  must 
have  been  here  that  in  his  imagination  Washington 
Irving  saw  old  Rip  and  his  dog  trudging  away  on 
the  fateful  hunting  trip  which  was  born  of  the 
shrewishness  of  Dame  VanWinkle.  Somewhere  in 
the  hills  above  he  met  the  strange  Half  Moon  crew 
and  partook  of  the  wicked  flagon. 

We  drove  farther  up  the  road  and  into  the  great 
cemetery  that  crowns  the  hill.  A  winding  drive 
took  us  to  the  great  author's  tomb.  A  low  iron 
fence  encloses  many  small  white  marble  tomb 
stones.  The  largest  is  a  simple  oval  topped  slab 


A  TRIP  TO  TARRYTOWN 


about  three  feet  in  height.     Its  inscription  is  all 
sufficient  for  this  and  other  generations  of  readers: 

"Washington  Irving 
Born  1781— Died  1853." 

This  suggests  to  the  pilgrim  the  Alhambra,  the 
Moorish  tales,  the  preeminent  Life  of  George  Wash 
ington,  Mahomet,  the  Life  of  Columbus,  Astoria, 
the  many  tales  of  the  Sketch  Book  and  of  hours 
of  humor,  learning,  philosophy  and  happiness  that 
have  been  given  to  millions  on  this  and  other  con 
tinents  by  him  -vhose  mortal  part  is  here  enclosed. 

Many  gravestones  for  his  family  and  kin  of  his 
and  later  generations  are  found  here,  as  if  the 
love  borne  his  memory  might  be  further  increased 
by  this  collection  of  earth  and  ashes. 

After  surveying  the  assemblage  of  monuments, 
and  thinking  of  the  career  of  the  greatest  American 
author — not  sadly  but  with  a  feeling  of  friendly  joy 
that  he  had  lived,  thought  and  written — we  turned 
to  survey  the  scene  spread  out  before  us.  Below 
ran  monuments,  walls,  shrubs  and  trees  to  the  val 
ley  of  the  brook;  beyond  on  the  gentle  rise  some 
of  the  roofs  of  Tarrytown  were  visible.  Further 
off  flowed  the  majestic  Hudson,  the  confining 
Palisades  showing  hugely  through  the  mist.  A 
sloop  was  making  its  way  down  stream  tacking  now 
and  then  that  its  sails  might  get  the  pull  of  a  light 


A  TRIP  TO  TARRYTOWN 


South  Southwest  breeze.  What  spot  could  be  more 
appropriate  than  this  to  hold  the  mortal  part  of 
Washington  Irving !  The  visitor  has  enforced  upon 
him  scenes  that,  on  first  beholding,  seem  long  fa 
miliar.  A  drive  to  the  crest  of  the  hill  led  us  to 
less  simple  monuments.  In  a  beautiful  slope  of 
green,  surrounded  by  shrubbery  and  trees,  Andrew 
Carnegie  had,  a  few  days  before,  been  buried. 
Among  the  foliage,  a  soldiers'  tent  was  visible.  He 
was  guarding  the  earth-enclosed  body  of  the  Iron 
King  that  ghouls  might  not  plunder.  Doubtless 
this  alert  watcher  will  soon  be  replaced  by  a  grim 
mer  protection — one  of  granite  and  steel. 

Not  far  distant  our  driver  pointed  out  the  Rocke 
feller  burial  lot.  Not  many  years  hence  this  will 
doubtless  hold  the  Oil  King's  remains. 

How  the  march  of  existence  goes  on!  The  mas 
ter  iron-monger  of  the  world,  the  founder  of  hun 
dreds  of  libraries,  the  great  giver  of  many  benefac 
tions — has  passed  on.  Soon  an  inscribed  stone  will 
tell  his  brief  story.  His  dust,  now  guarded  by  a 
rifleman,  will  ere  long  be  forgotten.  His  mighty 
work  will  live  on. 

Absorbed  in  thoughts  of  the  brevity  of  life  and 
how  some  great  souls,  unappalled  by  the  shortness 
of  its  span,  use  it  earnestly  and  efficiently — sanely 
mindful  of  the  duties  of  the  eternal  now — we  drove 
back  through  Tarrytown  toward  Irving's  old  home. 
A  path  called  "Sunshine  Lane,"  winding  among 


A  TRIP  TO  TARRYTOWN 


the  trees,  led  us  from  the  New  York-Albany  Post 
Road  to  a  large  closed  gate.  Through  the  foliage 
we  caught  a  faint  glimpse  suggestive  of  a  house. 
Nearer  approach  was  barred  by  the  gate  and  also 
by  a  sign  bearing  the  name  of  one  of  the  great 
author's  descendants — DuPont  Irving — and  warn 
ing  us  not  to  enter.  We  could  quite  agree  with 
the  owner's  desire  not  to  be  disturbed  by  curious 
visitors;  however,  we  regretted  that  we  could  not 
stand  for  a  few  moments  beneath  the  roof  that  had 
sheltered  the  greatest  literary  genius  of  America. 
Somewhat  disappointed,  we  made  our  way  by  a 
deliberately  circuitous  route  back  to  an  old  Tarry- 
town  tavern  to  partake  of  a  chicken  dinner.  This 
done,  we  walked  slowly  down  the  hill  to  the  rail 
road  station  to  board  the  next  train  for  New  York 
City. 

How  delightful  a  little  trip  had  been  ours!  As 
we  rode  along  the  Hudson  to  Manhattan  Island,  a 
long  procession  of  characters  came  to  our  imagina 
tion — Diedrich  Knickerbocker,  Wouter  VanT wilier, 
Ichabod  Crane,  Brom  Bones,  Peter  Stuyvesant  and 
whole  troops  of  men  and  women  with  whom  Wash 
ington  Irving  has  made  us  laugh,  grieve  or  philoso 
phise,  as  he  swayed  us  to  the  mood. 

We  tried  to  recall  the  paragraph  with  which 
Irving  closed  his  history  of  New  York.  Our  mem 
ory  rewarded  us  only  with  its  last  sentence.  With 
it  we  end  this  brief  account  of  a  visit  which  you, 


A  TRIP  TO  TARRYTOWN 


my  friend,  should  also  make  to  this  American  shrine 
on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson : 

"Haply  this  frail  compound  of  dust,  which,  while 
alive,  may  have  given  birth  to  nought  but  un 
profitable  weeds,  may  form  an  humble  sod  of  the 
valley,  from  whence  may  spring  many  a  sweet 
wild  flower  to  adorn  my  beloved  island  of 
Mannahata." 


JOHN  PAUL  JONES 


Though  trained  for  many  things, 
for  at  least  one  thing  must  one  be 
trained  well. 


John  Paul  Jones 

"But  thou,  brave  Jones,'  no  blame  shalt  bear, 
The  rights  of  man  demand  your  care: 

For  these  you  dare  the  greedy  waves. 
No  tyrant,  on  destruction  bent, 
Has  plann'd  thy  conquest— thou  art  sent 
To  humble  tyrants  and  their  slaves." 

— Philip  Freneau. 

WITHIN  the  United  States  Naval  Academy  at 
Annapolis,  Maryland,  is  interred  the  ashes 
of  John  Paul  Jones.  For  one  hundred  thirteen  years, 
from  his  death  until  1910,  they  rested  in  a  Paris  cem 
etery.    The  spirit  of  this  man,  the  first  great  Ameri 
can  naval  officer,  has  been  with  us  always.     His 
cry,  "I  have  not  yet  begun  to  fight,"  is  unforgotten. 
It  will  go  ringing  on  through  the  centuries  like  a 
clarion  call  to  battle.     Its  thrill  is  found  in  the 
triumphant  message  from  Perry,  "We  have  met  the 
enemy  and  they  are  ours;"  its  indomitable  power 
was    felt   in   the   words    of    the    dying    Lawrence, 
"Don't  give  up  the  ship;"  its  unconquerable  force 
was  in   Stephen   Decatur  when  in  the   Tripolitan 
harbor  he  sank  the  pirate  craft.    In  the  turret  of  the 
Monitor  it  pulsed  through  the  sturdy  Ericson;  its 
throb  was  in  Dewey's  men  in  far-off  Manilla  Bay, 
following   the    calmly-spoken   words,    "When   you 
are  ready,  Gridley,  fire."    It  fixed  forever  the  high 
standard  of  courage  of  our  navy— a  navy  that  in 
all  the  wars  from  the  days  of  Jones  to  those  of 
Simms  has  never  failed  to  conquer. 


JOHN  PAUL  JONES 


Who  was  this  man  whose  spirit  now  stands  on 
the  bridge  of  every  American  ship,  is  within  every 
boiler  room,  behind  every  gun  and  aloft  on  every 
fighting  top  that  carries  the  Stars  and  Stripes?  He 
was  born  in  County  Kircudbright,  Scotland,  in  1747, 
his  lineage  obscure,  his  outward  opportunities  few. 
But  there  was  that  within  him  that  made  oppor 
tunities.  His  name  was  John  Paul.  In  later  life  he 
took  that  of  John  Paul  Jones.  Unaided  even  by  a 
christening,  he  made  that  name,  common  though 
it  was,  a  synonym  for  indomitable  will  and  unyield 
ing  pluck. 

At  twelve  he  was  a  sailor,  at  nineteen  a  chief 
mate,  and  at  twenty-one  a  captain.  When  twenty* 
six  years  old,  he  left  the  sea  and  settled  in  Vir 
ginia.  In  1775,  he  was  commissioned  as  a  lieutenant 
in  the  Continental  navy.  On  the  little  ship  "Alfred" 
he  pulled  the  halyards  that  hoisted  to  the  breeze 
our  first  naval  flag.  It  was  the  "Rattlesnake  flag," 
bearing  those  warning  words,  "Don't  tread  on  me." 
He  knew  one  trade  well;  he  was  a  skillful  sailor 
and  navigator.  He  had  diligently  improved  his 
boyhood  years  before  the  mast. 

In  1775  he  was  placed  in  command  of  the  brig 
"Providence,"  with  a  crew  of  seventy  and  arma 
ment  of  twelve  four-pounders.  In  four  months  he 
had  captured  sixteen  enemy  ships.  Later,  with 
other  commands  he  burned  enemy  transports  and 
captured  munitions,  gaining  supplies  for  Americans 
and  destroying  them  for  the  British. 


JOHN  PAUL  JONES 


In  June,  1777,  he  was  given  the  "Ranger,"  a 
vessel  of  three  hundred  tons,  armed  with  eighteen 
six-pound  guns.  On  July  4th  he  ran  to  her  mast 
head  the  first  flag  of  Stars  and  Stripes  that  was 
ever  flown  in  the  American  navy.  From  then  until 
1779  he  was  in  European  waters,  fighting  and 
harrying  enemy  shipping. 

In  the  latter  year  he  converted  a  rotten,  con 
demned  merchantman  in  a  French  harbor  to  an 
American  man-of-war.  In  honor  of  Benjamin 
Franklin  he  named  it  the  "Bonhomme  Richard." 
With  this  as  his  flagship,  he  cruised  about  England 
and  Scotland,  striking  terror  wherever  he  appeared 
along  shore  or  upon  the  seas.  With  two  vessels  of 
his  squadron  accompanying  the  "Good  Richard," 
he  fell  in  with  the  British  Baltic  convoy  led  by  the 
staunch  new  frigate  "Serapis."  Then  ensued  what 
was  perhaps  the  most  desperate  naval  battle  ever 
fought  in  the  history  of  the  world.  With  his  ship 
riddled,  his  prisoners  at  the  pumps,  his  magnificent 
crew  suffering  and  many  dead  and  dying,  he  fought 
his  stronger  foe.  For  hours  the  battle  lasted.  When 
in  desperate  straits  Jones  was  asked  if  he  sur 
rendered.  He  made  his  memorable  reply.  At  the 
close  of  the  contest,  though  the  American  ship  sank, 
the  victors  were  possessed  of  the  British  man-of- 
war,  and  in  it  made  their  way  to  France. 

The  story  of  his  life  and  of  his  death  in  Paris  in 
1792  are  well  known.  The  one  great  event  in  his 
career  that  stands  supreme  is  the  battle  on  the 


JOHN  PAUL  JONES 


North  Sea.  He  believed  in  initiative,  and  expressed 
that  belief  thus:  "I  do  not  wish  to  have  command 
of  any  ship  that  does  not  sail  fast,  for  I  intend  to 
go  in  harm's  way." 

Though  born  in  Scotland,  and  his  youthful  days 
spent  at  sea,  he  was  a  real  American.  His  patriotism 
was  proved  by  his  deeds.  He  worded  it  in  the  say 
ings,  "I  can  never  renounce  the  glorious  title  of  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,"  and  "I  have  ever 
looked  out  for  the  honor  of  the  American  flag." 
Never  in  all  his  fights  did  he  have  a  good  ship, 
never  did  he  have  a  full  crew.  His  weaknesses  in 
equipment  and  men  were  always  overbalanced  by 
his  skill  and  bravery. 

Whether  he  dreamed  in  his  youth  that  some  day 
his  name  would  stand  among  the  first  of  the  world's 
naval  heroes,  we  do  not  know.  That  history  would 
call  him  the  "Father  of  the  American  Navy,"  he 
probably  never  dreamed.  To  wish  for  immortality 
in  the  memories  of  men  may  be  vanity;  it  is  not 
vanity,  however,  to  wish  to  serve  so  well  that  the 
service  shall  be  enduring. 

In  a  few  short  hours  one  September  day  John 
Paul  Jones  wrote  his  name  forever  in  the  earthly 
records  of  great  deeds.  It  was  no  sudden  burst  of 
genius  that  gave  him  the  power  so  to  do.  In  his 
early  youth,  though  he  then  did  not  know  when  or 
where,  he  was  preparing  for  those  four  hours  of 
glory.  In  the  night  on  a  yard-arm  of  a  reeling  ship 
how  often  had  he  stored  up  materials  of  physical 


JOHN  PAUL  JONES 


and  moral  strength  for  the  sudden  heavy  draft  made 
that  autumn  evening  in  1779.  In  strange  harbors, 
under  distant  skies,  in  currents,  in  calms  and  in 
storms,  he  had  learned  his  art.  Under  the  stars 
he  had  heard  the  blocks  creaking  with  the  straining 
rigging  as  he  watched  the  weather  and  read  his 
chart.  From  stem  to  stern,  from  keel  to  top-truck, 
he  knew  ships.  He  knew  the  whims  of  wind  and 
tide!  He  knew  the  tricks  of  sails,  of  sheets  and 
wheel.  He  taught  himself  how  to  use  best  and 
to  its  uttermost  degree  every  resource,  however 
meagre  it  might  be.  He  learned  what  every  sailor- 
man  must  learn,  that  his  skill  must  be  ever  available, 
ever  ready,  and  that  to  know  too  late  is  not  to 
know  at  all.  Thus  he  prepared  .day  by  day  and 
year  by  year.  When  his  great  hour  struck,  he  was 
ready.  At  thirty-two,  unaided  by  chance  or  fortune, 
there  was  suddenly  opened  a  page  of  history  on 
which  he  should  write  his  name  imperishably — a 
page  whose  reading  would  ever  inspire  men  to  dar 
ing  with  unbreaking  will. 


The  men  who  made  the  westward 
march  were  cast  in  heroic  mold. 


Sam  Houston 


"Flag  of  the  free  heart's  hope  and  home, 

By.  angel  hands  to  valor  given ; 
The  stars  have  lit  the  welkin  dome, 

And  all  thy  hues  were  born  in  heaven. 
Forever  float  that  standard  sheet! 

Where  breathes  the  foe  but  falls  before  us, 
With   Freedom's   soil  beneath  our  feet, 

And  Freedom's  banner  streaming  o'er  us?" 

— Joseph    Rodman    Drake. 

THE  most  heroic  figure  in  history  is  the  Amer 
ican  pioneer.  All  the  virtues  and  vices  of  the 
frontier  were  his.  All  the  suffering  and  privation 
of  the  uncultivated  wilderness  were  by  him  endured. 
All  the  dangers  of  lurking  savages  were  braved  and 
overcome.  All  that  initiative,  patience  and  courage 
could  accomplish  was  by  him  performed.  He  was  a 
man  of  imagination  and  foresight.  As  he  stood, 
over  a  century  ago,  beyond  the  pale  of  settlement 
on  the  western  slope  of  the  Alleghanies,  he  gazed 
afar  over  forests  and  rivers,  over  beauteous  valleys 
and  mountains,  and,  with  the  beat  of  the  distant 
Pacific  in  his  straining  ears,  caught  a  vision  of  a 
continental  destiny  for  the  colonies  of  the  Atlantic 
seaboard — a  vision  of  peace  and  prosperity,  of  rang 
ing  herds  and  waving  fields,  of  harnessed  rivers  and 
plying  commerce,  of  delving  for  nature's  store  of 
treasure  to  be  wrought  into  usefulness  for  man 
kind — a  vision  that  through  him  has  been  realized, 
for  wherever  the  forest  rang  with  his  axe  there  he 


SAM  HOUSTON 


has  uplifted  the  schoolhouse  and  the  temple ;  wher 
ever  his  home  was  planted  there  has  flowered  into 
beauty  and  blossomed  into  perfume  the  true  ideals 
of  American  life. 

In  1793,  the  year  that  saw  the  death  of  Louis  XVI 
of  France,  two  children  were  born  in  Virginia.  Both 
were  to  become  leaders  in  the  western  advance; 
both  were  to  become  apostles  to  spread  the  liberty- 
giving  American  institutions.  One  was  destined  to 
be  the  colonizer  and  founder  of  the  Republic  of 
Texas;  the  other  was  selected  for  the  mission  of 
wresting  her  independence  from  the  overlords  of 
Mexico.  One  was  Stephen  Austin,  the  colonizer; 
the  other,  that  great  child  and  man  of  romance, 
Samuel  Houston. 

Houston  was  of  Scotch-Irish  stock;  his  father,  a 
sturdy  frontiersman  who  fought  in  the  Revolution 
ary  War.  Of  his  mother  we  know  that  she  was  a 
woman  of  courage,  and  that,  as  in  all  great  men,  her 
most  famous  son  inherited  his  mother's  qualities. 
Her  Spartan  spirit  is  shown  by  an  incident  of  Sam's 
enlistment  in  the  War  of  1812.  Standing  in  her 
cabin  door,  she  gave  her  son  his  musket,  saying, 
"Take  this  musket,  and  never  disgrace  it,  for,  remem 
ber,  I  had  rather  all  my  sons  should  fill  one  honor 
able  grave  than  that  one  of  them  should  turn  his 
back  to  save  his  life.  Go,  and  remember,  too,  that 
while  the  door  of  my  cottage  is  open  to  brave  men, 
it  is  eternally  shut  against  cowards." 

Houston's  father   died  when  Sam  was  thirteen 


SAM  HOUSTON 


years  of  age.  His  mother  took  the  large  family  over 
the  mountains,  to  a  rough  home  they  made  in  the 
Tennessee  forests.  The  Tennessee  River,  seven 
miles  distant,  marked  the  boundary  line  between  the 
settlers  and  the  Cherokee  Indians.  Of  Sam's  earliest 
years  little  is  recorded  except  that  he  attended  a 
backwoods'  school  for  a  few  months,  and  also  read 
and  reread  Pope's  translation  of  the  "Iliad."  What 
hopes,  what  dreams  were  stirred  by  these  Homeric 
tales  of  warrior  heroes,  we  can  surmise  from  his 
later  life.  We  find  him  when  fourteen  years  of  age 
leaving  his  mother's  home  to  join  the  Cherokee  tribe, 
with  whom  he  then  lived  for  four  years.  He  was 
adopted  as  a  son  by  the  Cherokee  chief  "Oolootee- 
kah,"  and  was  christened  "Colonneh,"  or  "The 
Rover." 

During  these  four  years  he  played  the  alert 
games  of  his  dusky  playmates.  He  was  taught  the 
habits  of  the  game  of  the  primeval  forest;  he  knew 
the  cunning  of  the  wild  fox  and  the  intelligence  of 
the  wolf ;  he  learned  to  imitate  the  calls  of  the  wild ; 
he  heard  the  Indian  tales  of  prowess  and  of  daring ; 
he  knew  the  secrets  of  stream  and  of  woodland.  He 
listened  to  the  myths  of  the  redmen;  he  heard  the 
poetry  of  Indian  oratory  in  the  council  wigwams; 
he  became  acquainted  with  their  religion,  with  its 
rewards  of  all  the  beautiful  in  nature  in  the  Happy 
Hunting  Ground.  With  them  he  heard  the  voices  of 
departed  ancestors  in  the  sighing  of  the  trees.  He 
wore  the  Indian  dress  with  all  its  barbarous  finery. 


SAM  HOUSTON 


He  learned  the  lessons  of  those  wild  children  of  the 
forest,  who,  with  all  their  cruelty  and  all  their 
savagery,  have  never  been  excelled  by  any  race  in 
their  worship  of  the  wonderful  and  beautiful  of  the 
earth.  He  received  that  training  which  is  only  for 
the  observant,  in  a  school  whose  dome  is  the  blue 
sky,  whose  curriculum  is  unbounded  by  dogma  or 
superstition,  whose  teachers  are  ever  present  com 
panions,  and  whose  laboratories  are  in  hills  and 
running  brooks,  in  the  glades  where  deer  run,  and 
in  twig,  stone  and  flower — that  university  of  nature 
which  gives  the  secret  of  the  usefulness  of  life  to 
all  who  sincerely  inquire. 

In  Houston's  adventurous  career  we  find  many 
evidences  of  Indian  characteristics  in  his  nature. 
His  fiery  temper,  his  love  of  the  wild,  his  vanity,  his 
commanding  presence,  his  lofty  eloquence,  his  valor 
— even  in  his  youth — were  strangely  apparent. 

Until  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age,  Houston 
remained  with  the  Cherokees.  Being  in  debt  for 
ammunition,  he  returned  to  his  white  friends  to  earn 
sufficient  money  by  teaching  school  to  discharge  his 
financial  obligations.  He  received  a  tuition  of  eight 
dollars  per  annum  from  each  pupil.  This  salary  was 
paid  one-third  in  cotton  goods,  one-third  in  corn  at 
33  J-3C  Per  bushel,  and  one-third  in  cash. 

Here  he  reigned  as  master  in  that  humble  but 
mighty  American  institution,  the  district  school. 
Here  the  young  mind  of  the  pupil  is  trained  to 
respect  the  authority  of  government  and  to  revere 


SAM  HOUSTON 


the  memories  of  our  nation's  heroes.  Here  he 
buffets  with  the  Norsemen  on  the  voyage  to  Vin- 
land,  and  feels  the  hope  and  the  despair  of  the  un 
charted  sailings  with  the  Genoese.  Here  he  dreams 
with  Ponce  de  Leon,  and  wanders  with  LaSalle  and 
Frontenac.  He  stands  with  Balboa  at  Darien  as  the 
mighty  Pacific  meets  his  gaze,  and  charges  with 
Pizarro  among  the  fastnesses  of  the  Incas.  He 
steps  with  the  heroic  Pilgrims  upon  the  rock  at 
Plymouth,  and  suffers  with  the  adventurous  Cav 
aliers  at  Jamestown.  With  Magellan  he  rounds  the 
Horn,  and  with  Frobisher  and  Drake  pursues  the 
galleons  on  the  Spanish  Main.  He  fights  with  the 
pioneers  on  the  Atlantic  coast  and  in  the  Piedmont, 
and  braves  the  dangers  beyond  the  pass  of  Cumber 
land.  He  rides  through  the  night  with  Paul 
Revere,  and  fights  side  by  side  with  the  Minute- 
men.  He  charges  with  John  Stark  at  Bennington, 
and  suffers  the  pain  and  misery  of  the  winter  at 
Valley  Forge.  He  receives  with  Washington  the 
surrender  at  Yorktown,  and  sits  with  Madison  and 
Hamilton  in  the  Constitutional  Convention.  He 
goes  forth  with  Boone  to  conquer  a  continent,  and 
trades  with  the  Indians  at  the  mouth  of  the  Colum 
bia.  He  joins  the  mad  charge  of  Pickett  at  Gettys 
burg,  and  rides  on  the  wings  of  the  wind  with  Sheri 
dan  at  Winchester.  He  lives  the  lives  of  all  who 
dared ;  he  suffers  in  the  reeking  battlefield ;  he  meets 
the  able  savage  with  heart  undaunted.  He  toils  in 
the  wilderness  of  mountain  and  plain,  and  catches 


SAM  HOUSTON 


the  spirit  of  those  who  ever  build  higher  and  higher 
on  the  foundations  laia  so  deep  by  the  men  who 
have  gone  before.  He  feels  the  beat  of  public 
progress,  and  becomes  that  crowning  achievement 
of  the  world's  civilization — an  American  citizen. 

After  a  period  of  teaching,  Houston,  for  a  session, 
attended  an  academy  at  Maryville.  This  brief  ex 
perience  and  his  early  few  months'  training  in  the 
backwoods'  school  constituted  the  only  schooling 
that  Houston  ever  had.  His  education  was  ob 
tained  through  association  with  nature  and  with 
men.  Throughout  his  life  he  read  a  few  books.  He 
studied  deeply  Caesar's  "Commentaries,"  and  learned 
their  simple  wisdom  on  the  art  of  war.  Homer 
and  Shakespeare  were  frequently  read  by  him,  and 
in  his  later  life  he  devoted  much  study  to  the  Bible. 
His  preserved  speeches  are  tinged  with  the  language 
of  Holy  Writ,  intermixed  with  the  rich  imagery  of 
the  eloquence  of  the  red  man. 

George  Rogers  Clark,  who  was  chiefly  instru 
mental  in  holding  for  the  colonies  the  territory  be 
tween  the  Alleghanies  and  the  Mississippi  during 
the  Revolution;  Lewis  and  Clark,  who  broke  the 
trail  to  Oregon;  Fremont,  who  made  the  path 
through  Colorado;  Boone,  who  led  the  way  into 
Tennessee  and  Kentucky ;  Kenton,  the  scout  of  the 
Kanawha;  Davy  Crockett  and  Bowie,  who  died  at 
the  Alamo ;  and  the  other  intrepid  men  who  led  the 
American  advance  over  mountain  steeps,  through 
tangled  forests,  across  sandy  plains — these  men  who 


SAM  HOUSTON 


defied  the  hardships  of  toil,  thirst  and  hunger,  alert 
pioneers  who  met  undaunted  and  alone  the  lurking 
dangers  of  the  fastnesses  of  the  wilderness,  may 
have  had  dreams  less  vast  than  the  later  results  of 
their  work  warranted,  but,  like  all  men  who  com 
bine  imagination  with  accomplishment,  they  were 
willing  to,  and  did,  perform  the  immediate  tasks  that 
were  sternly  given  them.  Of  such  as  these  was  he 
whose  crowning  achievements  were  in  the  conquest 
and  preservation  of  that  vast  expanse  of  tropical 
fertility  which  we  now  know  as  the  State  of  Texas. 

As  it  is  worth  while  to  trace  the  great  river  to 
its  sources,  or  to  know  the  tremendous  forces  that 
wrought  out  the  soil  of  this  continent,  so  will  it  be 
profitable  to  learn  in  what  school  and  how  was 
trained  in  his  early  manhood  he  who  led  the  great 
march  of  Americans  to  the  banks  of  the  Rio 
Grande. 

In  1813,  while  the  war  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States  was  in  progress,  Houston 
enlisted  in  the  army  under  his  lifelong  friend,  Gen 
eral  Andrew  Jackson.  In  March  of  that  year  he 
took  a  glorious  part  in  the  campaign  against  the 
Creek  Indians  and  fought  at  the  battle  of  the  Horse 
Shoe  Bend  of  the  Tallapoosa  River.  As  an  ensign, 
he  commanded  a  platoon  of  Tennessee  riflemen, 
and  at  their  head  he  charged  through  the  leaden 
hail  that  came  from  the  Creek  entrenchments. 
While  scaling  the  Indian  breastworks,  a  barbed 
arrow  entered  his  thigh.  General  Jackson  ordered 


SAM  HOUSTON 


him  to  the  rear,  but,  under  his  threatening  sword, 
Houston  forced  one  of  his  lieutenants  to  withdraw 
the  arrow.  After  the  wound  was  bandaged  he  pro 
ceeded  with  his  men.  One  thousand  savages  and 
one  thousand  Tennesseeans  fought  with  rifle,  arrow, 
spear,  sword,  tomahawk  and  dagger.  The  Indians' 
prophets  had  promised  them  victory.  A  dark  cloud 
was  to  be  the  token  of  the  Great  Spirit.  After  the 
first  fierce  carnage,  the  victorious  Americans  called 
upon  the  enemy's  survivors  to  surrender.  A  light 
rain  then  fell.  The  Indians  took  the  cloud  from 
which  it  came  as  the  promised  signal,  and  their 
prophets  stood  firm.  They  had  withdrawn  to  a  port- 
holed  log  fortification  in  a  deep  ravine,  and  here  they 
defied  the  further  onslaughts  of  the  whites.  Gen 
eral  Jackson  called  for  volunteers  to  make  the 
assault,  but  no  officer  offered  to  lead  so  desperate  a 
charge.  Houston  seized  a  rifle,  and,  calling  upon 
his  platoon  to  follow,  led  them  against  the  savage 
fire.  He  received  two  bullets  in  his  shoulder  in  the 
last  event  of  that  fateful  day  that  destroyed  the 
power  of  Creeks  forever.  Houston,  who  was  then 
only  twenty  years  of  age,  was  not  expected  to  re 
cover.  After  enduring  much  suffering,  he  arrived 
two  months  later  at  his  mother's  home  in  Blount 
County,  Tennessee,  where  for  months  he  lay  in 
agony.  Finally  he  was  taken  to  Marysville  for 
medical  assistance,  but  the  wounds  never  healed. 
From  then  until  his  death,  fifty  years  later,  he 


SAM  HOUSTON 


carried  a  running  sore  as  a  memento  of  his  first 
baptism  of  fire. 

After  sufficiently  recovering  to  undertake  the 
journey,  Houston  traveled  down  the  Cumberland, 
the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans  to  join 
his  command.  In  the  little  bark  he  took  to  the 
West  a  copy  of  the  "Iliad,"  a  volume  of  Shake 
speare  and  the  Bible.  It  was  a  strange  coincidence 
that  on  this  first  trip  of  Houston  to  the  Father  of 
Waters  he  carried  the  greatest  epic  ever  written, 
the  book  of  the  world's  greatest  religion,  and  the 
works  of  the  most  illustrious  genius  who  ever 
wrought  the  fancies  of  his  brain  into  an  enduring 
literary  fabric  for  all  the  ages.  On  the  Mississippi, 
as  if  to  greet  him  who  was  to  do  so  much  to  ex 
tend  the  commerce  of  a  nation  toward  the  West, 
was  met  the  first  steamboat  that  ever  disturbed  the 
Father  of  Waters.  The  following  winter  he  sailed 
around  Florida,  which  in  a  few  years  was  to  be 
ceded  by  Spain,  and  thence  to  New  York  for  further 
medical  treatment.  He  returned  overland  to  Ten 
nessee,  where  he  was  made  a  sub-agent  among  the 
Cherokees.  In  the  spring  of  1818  he  conducted  a 
delegation  of  Indians  to  Washington,  where  he  was 
reprimanded  for  appearing  in  his  wild  Indian  dress 
before  Secretary  of  State  Calhoun,  and  later  was 
strangely  charged  with  having  prevented  African 
negroes  from  being  smuggled  into  the  Western 
states  from  Florida.  Smarting  under  the  unjust 


SAM  HOUSTON 


criticisms,  he  resigned  from  the  army,  and,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-five,  undertook  the  study  of  law. 

In  the  march  of  the  American  pioneers  toward 
the  Pacific,  the  first  were  those  of  the  hunting  rifle, 
like  Boone,  each  generation  of  whom  moved  further 
westward  until  they  reached  the  great  sea.  These 
were  followed  by  those  of  the  axe,  who  girdled 
the  trees  and  cleared  small  patches  of  ground,  en 
gaged  in  shiftless  farming,  and  on  the  coming  of 
more  permanent  farmers  deserted  their  log  cabins 
to  move  farther  West.  With  the  coming  of  the 
third  class,  the  permanent  farmers,  land  titles  be 
came  of  more  importance.  In  a  pioneer  community, 
where  hardship  was  usual,  living  rough  and  de 
fense  of  life  often  dependent  on  the  effort  of  the 
individual,  it  was  natural  that  personal  quarrels 
were  frequent  and  violence  common.  These  and 
litigation  over  land  titles  gave  occasion  for  the 
frontier  lawyer.  Court  sessions  were  days  of  great 
social  gatherings.  For  miles  about  a  county-seat 
over  the  rough  trails  would  come  the  population  to 
listen  to  the  trials  in  which  all  were  interested,  in 
which  all  took  sides,  and  in  which  anybody's  busi 
ness  was  everybody's  business.  Court  proceedings 
furnished  the  play,  and  the  court-room  the  stage 
for  the  backwoods'  lawyers  and  judges  to  display 
their  qualities.  Every  case  gave  an  opportunity  for 
the  lawyer  to  advance  his  political  plans  and  to 
interfere  with  those  of  his  opponents.  At  the 
taverns,  between  court  sessions,  the  members  of 


SAM  HOUSTON 


the  bar  could  discourse  to  their  admirers  and  berate 
their  enemies.  The  stump  speech  here  developed 
into  a  national  institution. 

Lured  by  the  attractions  of  this  field,  Houston 
decided  to  study  law.  He  entered  the  office  of  James 
Trimble,  at  Nashville.  The  usual  period  of  study 
in  those  days  was  eighteen  months.  Houston,  how 
ever,  studied  six  months,  devoting  himself  to  acquir 
ing  a  few  general  principles  of  the  science.  His 
sense  of  justice  was  not  dulled  by  commencing  his 
endeavors  in  an  attempt  to  digest  a  mass  of  reported 
cases.  In  his  twenty-fifth  year,  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  and  commenced  practice  at  the  little  town 
of  Lebanon,  Tennessee.  Here  his  office  rent  was 
one  dollar  per  month,  and  the  local  postmaster,  a 
Mr.  Goldsworthy,  advanced  him  this  as  well  as  his 
postage,  which  was  then  twenty-five  cents  per 
letter.  His  law  library  of  a  few  books  that  he 
could  carry  in  his  saddle-bags  he  also  purchased  on 
credit.  After  three  months'  practice,  he  was  elected 
district-attorney  and  removed  from  Lebanon  to 
Nashville  to  assume  the  duties  of  that  office. 

As  public  prosecutor  he  had  to  contend  with  some 
of  the  ablest  minds  of  the  frontier  bar.  Though 
he  was  not  a  scholarly  lawyer,  his  native  ability,  his 
ready  wit  and  the  possession,  through  his  early 
training,  of  a  sound  and  quick  judgment,  made  him 
a  dangerous  antagonist  in  the  forums  in  which  he 
appeared.  His  rough  eloquence,  his  fervid  imagina- 


SAM  HOUSTON 


tion  and  his  vigor  won  for  him  a  large  following 
among  the  people  of  Tennessee. 

His  popularity  was  such  that  by  acclamation  he 
was  elected  Major-General  of  the  state  troops. 

In  1823,  Houston  was  elected  to  Congress  from 
the  Ninth  District  of  Tennessee.  The  House  of 
Representatives  then  numbered  among  its  members 
such  patriots  as  Webster,  Clay  and  Randolph. 
Houston  profited  much  from  his  association  with 
these  brightest  minds  of  his  time.  He  belonged 
to  the  Jackson  wing  of  the  Democratic  party,  and 
was  one  of  those  men  who  had  within  him  the 
strong  growing  spirit  of  nationalism  in  the  West. 
It  was  this  spirit  which  in  1828  made  Jackson 
President. 

Jackson  was  Houston's  great  ideal.  While  the 
former  was  in  the  Senate,  Houston  served  on  the 
same  committees  in  the  House.  On  one  occasion 
during  his  second  term  in  Congress,  Houston  emu 
lated  his  patron  by  engaging  in  a  duel,  the  only  one 
of  his  long  life.  The  cause  was  trivial.  His  an 
tagonist  was  General  White,  who  was  seriously 
wounded,  while  Houston  escaped  unharmed.  Many 
times  after,  because  of  his  hot  temper,  Houston  was 
challenged — once  by  Mirabeau  Lamar,  the  President 
of  Texas  from  1838  to  1841,  and  once  by  Albert  Sid 
ney  Johnston.  One  day  he  received  a  belligerent 
message  demanding  an  engagement  on  the  field  of 
honor.  Houston  handed  the  challenge  to  his  secre- 


SAM  HOUSTON 


tary,  instructing  him  to  mark  it  number  fourteen 
and  place  it  on  file. 

In  1827,  Houston  was  elected  Governor  of  Tennes 
see  by  a  majority  of  twelve  thousand.  For  two 
years  of  his  term  he  served  with  credit  to  himself 
and  with  honor  to  the  electorate  of  his  state.  He 
then  married  Eliza  Allen,  the  daughter  of  one  of 
his  ardent  admirers  and  a  staunch  political  sup 
porter.  The  couple  lived  together  for  three 
months,  when  suddenly  his  wife  departed  for  her 
father's  home.  In  a  storm  of  slander,  scandal  and 
abuse,  Houston  remained  silent  as  to  the  cause  of 
this  separation.  Neither  from  Mrs.  Houston  nor 
from  him  did  explanation  ever  come.  The  lies  of 
a  villifying  press,  the  conjectures  of  little  minds, 
who,  in  an  effort  to  satiate  their  unwarranted 
curiosity  disregard  one's  right  of  privacy,  the 
slanders  of  the  suspicious,  never  served  to  draw 
from  either  a  word  as  to  the  cause  of  their  separa 
tion.  Many  explanations  have  been  given,  but  for 
us  it  is  sufficient  to  know  that  neither  would  ever 
suffer  derogatory  mention  of  the  other.  A  few 
years  later  Mrs.  Houston  obtained  a  divorce  on  a 
charge  of  desertion,  and  later  she  married  again. 
Houston,  suffering  much  in  spirit,  decided  to  aban 
don  his  brilliant  career  and  seek  again  the  com 
panionship  of  the  redmen.  He  resigned  the  Gover 
norship  of  Tennessee,  embarked  upon  the  Cumber 
land  and  made  his  way  to  the  home  of  his  adopted 
father,  Oolooteekah. 


SAM  HOUSTON 


The  Cherokee  Indians  had  by  this  time  removed 
from  Tennessee  to  what  is  now  Eastern  Oklahoma 
and  Western  Arkansas.  At  the  confluence  of  the 
Arkansas  and  Illinois  rivers  lived  the  Cherokee  chief 
in  barbaric  opulence.  His  acres  were  broad,  and 
his  log  dwelling  was  large.  He  possessed  twelve 
slaves  and  five  hundred  cattle.  This  simple 
aborigine  welcomed  the  successful  lawyer  and 
politician,  the  tried  warrior  and  general,  from  the 
advancing  civilization  in  the  East  to  the  Indian 
country  beyond  the  farthest  outpost.  Here  Hous 
ton  lived  for  four  years — perhaps  the  darkest  of  his 
life.  He  indulged  in  many  excesses,  seeking  for  a 
time  to  drown  his  disappointment  and  sorrow  in 
strong  drink.  These  were  not,  however,  years  of 
inactivity.  He  took  some  part  in  the  Indian  coun 
cils,  and  sought  to  alleviate  the  wrongs  done  the 
Indians  by  venal  government  agents.  On  the  occa 
sion  of  a  visit  to  Washington  to  intercede  with  the 
Federal  authorities  in  behalf  of  the  Cherokees,  he 
was  upon  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
assailed  in  debate  by  Congressman  Salisbury  of 
Ohio.  He  was  charged  with  attempting  to  defraud 
the  Indians.  At  this  Houston  took  umbrage.  On 
accidentally  meeting  the  offending  Congressman  one 
evening,  Houston  vented  his  wrath  upon  him  in  a 
physical  assault.  The  worsted  Congressman  under 
took  the  prosecution  of  Houston,  and  in  the  courts 
of  the  District  of  Columbia  he  was  fined  five  hundred 
dollars.  This  fine  was  remitted,  however,  by 


SAM  HOUSTON 


President  Jackson.  Salisbury  also  unsuccessfully 
attempted  to  bar  Houston  from  the  privilege  of  an 
ex-Congressman  to  appear  on  the  floor  of  the  House 
of  Representatives.  Upon  this  Houston  was  tried. 
His  counsel  was  a  Washington  lawyer  whose  name 
is  now  known  in  every  American  household.  In 
that  dramatic  proceeding  against  the  friend  of  Jack 
son,  that  much-maligned  exponent  of  Western 
thought,  the  counsel  for  the  defense  was  the  author 
of  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner"— Francis  Scott  Key. 

The  vast  territory  stretching  from  the  Sabine  to 
the  Rio  Grande,  a  larger  expanse  than  Napoleon's 
empire,  and  now  called  "Texas,"  was  known  to  the 
Spaniards  before  1600.  In  1685,  the  French  ex 
plorer,  LaSalle,  who  had  three  years  before  been 
upon  the  shores  of  Texas,  founded  a  settlement  at 
Matagorda  Bay,  which  was  soon  abandoned  for  one 
upon  the  LaVaca  River.  This  soon  passed  away, 
as  had  the  earlier  Spanish  settlements.  The  first 
permanent  settlement  in  Texas  was  made  by  Spain 
in  1716  at  LaBahia,  or  Goliad.  In  the  same  year  mis 
sions  were  established  at  San  Antonio  DeBexar  and 
at  Nacogdoches.  For  three-quarters  of  a  century 
Texas  had  no  white  settlers  except  the  priests  and 
soldiers  of  a  few  missions.  In  1800  Spain  ceded 
Louisiana  to  Napoleon,  and  three  years  later 
Napoleon  sold  Louisiana  to  the  United  States. 

The  Mississippi  River  was  the  highway  to  New 
Orleans,  which  now  became  an  American  city.  A 
few  Americans  from  this  outpost  pushed  on  into  the 


SAM  HOUSTON 


Spanish  territory  of  Texas.  In  1819  the  United 
States  bought  Florida  from  Spain;  whether  Texas 
was  included  in  this  purchase  has  been  a  subject 
for  debate.  In  1821,  Spain's  three  century  domina 
tion  of  Mexico  came  to  an  end,  that  country  estab 
lished  her  independence  and  in  1822  Augustin  de 
Iturbidi  was  crowned  Emperor.  In  1823  he  was 
deposed,  and  Antonio  Lopeg  de  Santa  Anna  became 
the  great  man  of  Mexico. 

In  1820,  Moses  Austin,  a  native  of  Connecticut, 
secured  a  grant  of  land  in  Texas.  In  1821  he  died, 
and  his  son  Stephen  took  up  the  colonization  plan 
of  his  father  and  secured  a  confirmation  of  the 
grant  made  to  the  latter.  He  returned  to  New 
Orleans,  going  back  to  San  Antonio  in  March,  1822, 
with  a  few  colonists.  He  then  learned  of  the  Mexi 
can  revolution  and  of  the  worthlessness  of  his  Span 
ish  grant.  From  Iturbide  he  obtained  a  new  grant, 
and  on  Iturbide's  fall  again  obtained  the  same  grant 
from  Mexico.  His  site  was  San  Felipi  de  Austin,  a 
hundred  miles  up  the  Bragos  River. 

The  story  of  the  emigration  of  the  Austin  col 
onists  to  Texas  has  many  parallels  in  our  history. 
Some  came  over  a  thousand  miles  with  ox-teams. 
They  traversed  unmarked  forests  and  trackless 
prairies,  and  crossed  perilous  streams,  ofttimes  on 
rafts  of  logs  bound  with  grapevines.  For  food  they 
depended  much  upon  their  rifles,  but  sometimes  on 
the  plains  they  ate  grasshoppers  caught  by  drives 
into  brush  corrals.  They  were  without  physicians. 


SAM  HOUSTON 


In  illness  only  the  simplest  remedies  were  available, 
and  they  performed  their  own  rough  surgery.  Oft- 
times  the  dead  were  buried  by  the  roadside,  with  no 
memorials  but  heaps  of  stones  to  prevent  the  rav 
ages  of  wild  animals.  Sometimes  the  Indians  at 
tacked,  murdered,  plundered  and  burned.  Stark 
corpses,  reddened  camp-fire  ashes,  the  presence  o£ 
carrion  birds  and  bleaching  bones  have  frequently 
offered  their  mute  evidence. 

In  December,  1832,  Houston  left  the  Cherokees 
and  went  to  Texas.  In  a  letter  to  Andrew  Jackson, 
written  February  13,  1833,  he  said:  "I  am  in  pos 
session  of  some  information  which  will  doubtless  be 
interesting  to  you,  and  may  be  calculated  to  for 
ward  your  views,  if  you  should  entertain  any,  touch 
ing  the  acquisition  of  Texas  by  the  United  States 
government.  That  such  a  measure  is  desired  by 
nineteen-twentieths  of  the  population  of  the  prov 
ince,  I  cannot  doubt."  The  dissatisfaction  of  the 
Texans  was  occasioned  by  these  facts:  In  1824  the 
Mexicans  had  adopted  a  liberal  constitution,  in  imi 
tation  of  that  of  the  United  States.  In  reliance  on 
this  the  American  settlers  had  come.  Santa  Anna 
sought  to  establish  himself  as  dictator,  and  finally 
succeeded.  By  1830,  there  were  in  Texas  about 
twenty  thousand  American  settlers,  and  these  were 
becoming  vuneasy  under  the  growing  disregard  of 
the  security  of  their  rights  as  the  Mexican  consti 
tution  had  granted  them.  In  1835,  Santa  Anna  is 
sued  a  decree  requiring  the  Texans  to  give  up  their 


SAM  HOUSTON 


arms;  to  this  the  settlers  would  not  submit.  In 
February,  1836,  the  Mexican  dictator,  to  enforce 
his  decrees,  led  an  army  of  six  to  eight  thousand  men 
across  the  Rio  Grande.  A  summary  of  the  events 
from  1824  to  and  including  the  massacres  at  the 
Alamo  and  at  Goliad  is  well  made  by  Houston  in  a 
letter  written  to  Santa  Anna,  dated  March  21,  1842. 
It  is  as  follows: 

"The  people  of  Texas  were  invited  to  migrate  to 
this  country  for  the  purpose  of  enjoying  equal  rights 
and  Constitutional  liberty.  They  were  promised 
the  shield  of  the  Constitution  of  1824,  adopted  by 
Mexico.  Confiding  in  the  pledge,  they  removed  to 
the  country  to  encounter  all  the  privations  of  a 
wilderness.  Under  the  alluring  promises  of  free 
institutions,  citizens  of  the  United  States  fought 
gallantly  in  the  achievement  of  Mexican  independ 
ence,  and  many  of  them  survive,  and  to  this  day 
occupy  the  soil  which  their  privations  and  valor  as 
sisted  in  achieving.  They  brought  with  them  no 
aspirations  or  projects  but  such  as  were  loyal  to  the 
Constitution  of  Mexico.  They  repelled  the  Indian 
savages;  they  encountered  every  discomfort; 
they  subdued  the  wilderness  and  converted 
into  cultivated  fields  the  idle  waste  of  this  now 
prolific  territory.  Their  courage  and  enterprise 
achieved  that  which  your  countrymen  had  either 
neglected  or  left  for  centuries  unaccomplished.  The 
Texans,  enduring  the  annoyances  and  oppressions 
inflicted  upon  them,  remained  faithful  to  the  Con- 


SAM  HOUSTON 


stitution  of  Mexico.  In  1832,  when  an  attempt  was 
made  to  destroy  that  Constitution,  and  when  you, 
sir,  threw  yourself  forward  as  its  avowed  champion, 
you  were  sustained  with  all  the  fidelity  and  valor 
that  freemen  could  contribute. 

"You  can  well  imagine  the  transition  of  feeling 
which  ensued  on  your  accession  to  power.  Your 
subversion  of  the  Constitution  of  1824,  your  estab 
lishment  of  Centralism,  your  conquest  of  Zacatecas, 
characterized  by  every  act  of  violence,  cruelty  and 
rapine,  inflicted  upon  us  the  profoundest  astonish 
ment. 

"In  succession  came  your  orders  for  the  Texans 
to  surrender  their  private  arms.  Then  was  pre 
sented  to  Texans  the  alternative  of  tamely  crouch 
ing  to  the  tyrant's  lash  or  exalting  themselves  to 
the  attributes  of  freemen.  They  chose  the  latter. 
To  chastise  them  for  their  presumption  induced  your 
advance  upon  Texas,  with  your  boasted  veteran 
army,  mustering  a  force  nearly  equal  to  the  whole 
population  of  this  country  at  that  time.  You  be 
sieged  and  took  the  Alamo;  but  under  what  cir 
cumstances?  You  assailed  one  hundred  and  fifty 
men;  its  brave  defenders,  worn  by  vigilance  and 
duty  beyond  the  power  of  human  nature  to  sustain, 
were  at  length  overwhelmed  by  a  force  of  nine 
thousand  men,  and  the  place  taken.  This  you  have 
been  pleased  to  class  in  the  succession  of  your  vic 
tories,  and  I  presume  you  would  include  the  mas 
sacre  of  Goliad. 


SAM  HOUSTON 


"Your  triumph  there — if  such  you  are  pleased  to 
term  it — was  not  the  triumph  of  arms;  it  was  the 
success  of  perfidy.  Fannin  and  his  brave  compan 
ions  had  beaten  back  and  defied  your  veteran  sol 
diers.  Although  outnumbered  more  than  seven  to 
one,  their  valiant,  hearty  and  indomitable  courage, 
with  holy  devotion  to  the  cause  of  freedom,  foiled 
every  effort  directed  by  your  general  to  insure  his 
success  by  arms.  He  had  recourse  to  a  flag  of  truce, 
and  when  the  surrender  of  the  little  patriot  band 
was  secured  by  the  most  solemn  treaty  stipulations, 
what  were  the  tragic  scenes  that  ensued  to  Mexican 
perfidy?  Instead  of  restoring  them  to  liberty,  ac 
cording  to  the  capitulation,  you  ordered  them  to  be 
executed,  contrary  to  every  pledge  given  them,  con 
trary  to  the  rules  of  war  and  contrary  to  every  prin 
ciple  of  humanity." 

On  March  2nd,  1836,  a  convention  of  citizens, 
gathered  at  Washington  on  the  Brazos,  declared 
Texas  a  free  and  independent  nation. 

Travis'  troops  had  been  massacred  at  the  Alamo, 
and  Fannin's  murdered  at  Goliad.  Houston  was 
commander-in-chief  of  the  remaining  Texan  forces. 
Santa  Anna,  thinking  that  an  easy  conquest  of 
Houston's  army  awaited  him,  sought  engagement. 
Houston  bided  his  time  until  the  Mexican  troops 
encamped  in  a  cul-de-sac  between  the  Buffalo  and 
San  Jacinto  Rivers,  with  a  marsh  at  their  back. 
Sunrise  on  April  2ist,  1836,  found  Houston's  army 
of  about  seven  hundred  Texans  in  a  bit  of  woods 


SAM  HOUSTON 


in  front  of  Santa  Anna's  troops.  As  the  morning 
broke,  Houston  sprang  to  his  feet  saying:  "The 
sun  of  Austerlitz  has  risen  again."  Half  a  mile  dis 
tant  were  over  two  thousand  trained  enemy  troops, 
sheltered  by  entrenchments.  Between  was  a  stretch 
of  prairie,  with  no  trees,  brush  or  rocks  for  shelter. 
Secretly  Houston  had  ordered  the  destruction  of  the 
bridge  at  Vinci.  From  the  battlefield  no  retreat 
could  be  made. 

In  the  afternoon  the  charge  was  sounded.  Down 
the  lines  dashed  a  horseman,  Deaf  Smith.  Swing 
ing  an  axe  about  his  head,  he  shouted :  "I  have  cut 
down  the  bridge  at  Vinci.  Fight  for  your  lives.'* 
With  a  wild  shout,  "Remember  the  Alamo!"  the 
entire  column  rushed  forward.  At  their  head  rode 
their  courageous  leader.  When  within  a  hundred 
yards  of  the  Mexican  breastworks,  the  enemy  fired. 
Their  shots  were  high.  Houston's  ankle  was  shat 
tered,  and  a  few  soldiers  were  killed.  In  a  moment 
the  determined  Texans  were  in  the  trenches.  With 
sword  and  dagger  they  fought.  The  Mexicans  were 
routed ;  nearly  seven  hundred  were  killed,  two  hun 
dred  and  eight  were  wounded,  nearly  a  thousand 
prisoners  were  taken,  and  all  with  a  loss  to  the 
victors  of  six  killed  and  twenty-five  wounded.  Santa 
Anna  fled.  The  following  day  he  was  found  in 
civilian  clothing,  crawling  along  the  bushes  near 
the  ruined  bridge  at  Vinci.  Texan  independence 
was  won.  The  treaty  of  Velasco  concluded  the 
war.  Santa  Anna  in  time  was  returned  to  Mexico. 


SAM  HOUSTON 


The  battle  of  San  Jacinto  was  a  military  miracle. 
Two  thousand  trained  veterans,  the  pick  of  an 
invading  army  of  six  or  seven  thousand,  entrenched, 
protected  on  flanks  by  woodland,  an  open  plain  be 
fore  them,  commanded  by  a  tried  general,  were  al 
most  annihilated,  and  their  commander  captured, 
all  with  small  loss  to  the  attackers,  and  this  by  one- 
third  their  number  of  plainsmen  untaught  in  the 
art  of  war. 

In  the  fall  of  1836  Houston  was  elected  President 
of  the  new  Republic.  In  1837  the  independence  of 
Texas  was  recognized  by  the  United  States — the 
last  official  act  of  President  Andrew  Jackson.  In 
1845  the  Lone  Star  State  gained  admission  to  the 
Federal  Union. 

Houston  was  one  of  the  two  first  United  States 
Senators  from  Texas.  He  took  his  seat  in  March, 
1846.  Among  his  colleagues  were  Clay,  Calhoun, 
Webster,  Cass,  Benton  and  many  others  who  left  a 
deep  impress  upon  our  national  affairs.  His  ec 
centric  clothing,  his  broad-brimmed  white  beaver 
hat,  the  Indian  blanket  which  he  often  wore,  his 
habit  of  whittling  while  listening  to  the  Senate  pro 
ceedings,  together  with  his  vastly  interesting  life, 
attracted  much  attention  to  him.  During  the  war 
between  the  United  States  and  Mexico  he  was  often 
consulted.  In  his  Senatorial  career  he  strongly  op 
posed  the  secessionist  doctrines.  He  vigorously  ob 
jected  to  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  repealing  the 
Missouri  Compromise. 


SAM  HOUSTON 


Frequently  did  he  rise  to  defend  or  plead  for  the 
American  Indians.  In  one  of  his  speeches  he  said, 
"We  have  Indians  on  our  Western  border  whose 
civilization  is  not  inferior  to  our  own.  They  have 
well  organized  societies;  they  have  villages  and 
towns;  they  have  their  state-houses  and  their  cap- 
itols;  they  have  females  and  men  who  would  grace 
the  drawing-rooms  or  salons  of  Washington;  they 
have  a  well  organized  judiciary,  a  trial  by  jury,  and 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus."  One  who  reads  the 
first  Constitution  of  the  Cherokee  tribes  cannot 
avoid,  as  a  possible  belief,  that  it  was  written  by 
Houston  himself.  In  recommending  a  policy  to  be 
adopted  in  dealing  with  the  Indians  he  said,  in  1855, 
after  suggesting  a  modest  military  establishment  in 
their  midst,  "Cultivate  intercourse  with  the  Indians. 
Show  them  that  you  have  comforts  to  exchange  for 
their  peltries;  bring  them  around  you;  domesticate 
them;  familiarize  them  with  civilization;  let  them 
see  that  you  are  rational  beings  and  they  will  be 
come  rational  in  imitation  of  you.  But  take  no 
whiskey  there  at  all,  not  even  for  the  officers,  for 
fear  their  generosity  would  let  it  out.  Do  this  and 
you  will  have  peace  with  the  Indians.  *  *  * 

"The  nature  of  an  Indian  can  be  changed.  He 
changes  under  favorable  circumstances  and  rises  to 
the  dignity  of  a  civilized  being.  It  takes  a  genera 
tion  or  two  to  regenerate  his  race,  but  it  can  be, 
done." 

In  December,   1859,  Houston  became   Governor 


SAM  HOUSTON 


of  Texas.  He  opposed  the  secession  of  his  State 
from  the  Union.  When  it  did  resolve  upon  seced 
ing,  he  yielded,  apparently  believing  that  while 
Texas  ought  to  stay  within  the  Union,  it  should  not 
be  made  to  do  so  by  force.  Early  in  July,  1863, 
there  came  to  him  the  news  of  the  Confederates' 
surrender  at  Vickburg  and  of  Lee's  defeat  at  Get 
tysburg.  His  heart  was  troubled.  Three  weeks 
later  he  died,  and  he  was  buried  at  Huntsville, 
Texas. 

The  career  of  Houston  is  worthy  of  study.  He 
was  born  east  of  the  Alleghanies.  Each  new  step 
in  his  life  took  him  farther  west.  He  was  essen 
tially  a  pioneer,  ever  moving  on  with  the  westward 
advance  of  Americans.  The  son  of  a  Revolutionary 
soldier,  the  adopted  son  of  an  Indian  chief,  an  In 
dian  fighter,  lawyer,  public  prosecutor,  Congress 
man,  Indian  agent,  military  hero,  Governor  of  two 
states,  President  of  a  Republic  and  United  States 
Senator,  are  all  titles  that  he  honorably  bore.  The 
story  of  his  part  in  inducing  the  annexation  of  Texas 
to  the  United  States  in  interesting  and  worthy  of 
investigation.  Incident  after  incident  in  his  career 
bespeaks  the  sturdiness  of  him  and  the  whole  race 
of  American  pioneers.  About  his  life  of  great  use 
fulness  is  woven  a  web  of  true  romance. 

Much  could  be  said  of  his  patriotic  and  political 
speeches  and  of  the  crude  but  powerful  eloquence 
with  which  he  delivered  them.  A  good  example  of 
the  Indian's  style  of  address  is  found  in  the  follow- 


SAM  HOUSTON 


ing  letter  written  by  Houston  upon  the  death  of 
Flaco,  a  Lipan  chief: 

"To  the  Memory  of  Gen.  Flaco,  Chief  of  Lipans: 

"My  Brother:— 

"My  heart  is  sad.  A  dark  cloud  rests  upon  your 
nation.  Grief  has  sounded  in  your  camp.  The 
voice  of  Flaco  is  silent.  His  words  are  not  heard 
in  council.  The  chief  is  no  more.  His  life  has 
fled  to  the  Great  Spirit.  His  eyes  are  closed.  His 
heart  no  longer  leaps  at  the  sight  of  buffalo.  The 
voices  of  your  camp  are  no  longer  heard  to  cry: 
"Flaco  has  returned  from  the  chase."  Your  chiefs 
look  down  on  the  earth  and  groan  in  trouble. 
Your  warriors  weep.  The  loud  voices  of  grief  are 
from  your  women  and  children.  The  song  of 
birds  is  silent.  The  ears  of  your  people  hear  no 
pleasant  sound.  Sorrow  whispers  in  the  winds. 
The  noise  of  the  tempest  passes.  It  is  not  heard. 
Your  hearts  are  heavy. 

"The  name  of  Flaco  brought  joy  to  all  hearts. 
Joy  was  on  every  face.  Your  people  were  happy. 
Flaco  is  no  longer  seen  in  the  fight.  His  voice  is 
no  longer  heard  in  battle.  The  enemy  no  longer 
made  a  path  for  his  glory.  His  valor  is  no  longer 
a  guard  for  your  people.  The  right  of  your  nation 
is  broken.  Flaco  was  a  friend  to  his  white 
brothers.  They  will  not  forget  him.  They  will 
remember  the  red  warrior.  His  father  will  not  be 
forgotten.  We  will  be  kind  to  the  Lipans.  Grass 
shall  not  grow  in  the  path  between  us.  Let  your 
wise  men  give  the  counsel  of  peace.  Let  your 
young  men  walk  in  the  white  path.  The  gray- 
headed  men  of  your  nation  will  teach  wisdom.  I 
will  hold  my  red  brothers  by  the  hand." 


SAM  HOUSTON 


The  state  of  Texas,  an  expanse  larger  than  any 
European  country  except  Russia,  and  the  American 
Federal  Union,  of  which  it  is  so  important  a  part, 
are  richer  and  better  because  for  them  whole  heart- 
edly  Sam  Houston  lived  and  broken-heartedly  he 
died. 


STATUE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AT   SOUTH    ENTRANCE 
TO  LINCOLN  PARK,  CHICAGO 


The  story  which  begins  in  a  log 
shack  and  ends  at  the  White  House  is 
wonderful  because  it  is  simple.  In  it 
are  no  magic  lamps  or  fairy  wands. 
It  is  of  an  humble  American  boy  who 
slowly  and  steadily  educated  himself 
by  using  well  the  materials  at  hand. 


Abraham  Lincoln 

"Too  oft  the  muse  has  blush' d  to  speak  of  men — 

No  muse  shall  blush  to  speak  her  best  of  him, 
And  still  to  speak  her  best  of  him  is  dumb. 

O  lofty  wisdom's  low  simplicity! 

O  awful  tenderness  of  noted  power! — 
No  man  e'er  held  so  much  of  power  so  meek. 

He  was  the  husband  of  the  husbandless, 

He  was  the  father  of  the  fatherless: 
Within  his  heart  he  weigh'd  the  common  woe. 

His  call  was  like  a  father's  to  his  sons! 
.  As  to  a  father's  voice,  they,  hearing,  came — 
Eager  to  offer,  strive,  and  bear,  and  die." 

— John  James  Piatt. 

PASSING  up  Tenth  Street,  in  Washington,  D. 
C.,  to  a  point  opposite  the  old  Ford  Theatre, 
the  attention  is  arrested  by  an  American  flag.  It 
hangs  above  the  door  of  an  old  three-story  brick 
house — the  house  in  which  Abraham  Lincoln  died. 
It  is  a  homely  building,  for  a  brief  tenancy  shelter 
ing  a  homely  man.  Here  it  was  that  his  great  soul 
took  flight. 

We  climb  the  curving  steps  and  through  the  door 
enter  a  narrow  hall.  Here  the  walls  are  covered 
with  scores  of  pictures — all  of  him  who,  to  his  good 
fortune,  was  born  in  a  log  cabin,  and,  to  ours,  lived 
in  the  White  House.  What  genius,  what  kindly 
tolerance  seems  to  look  out  from  these  sunlight 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


records  of  a  face !  We  see  him  as  the  keen  Illinois 
lawyer,  patient  and  clear-thinking,  but  one  whom 
the  whip  of  wrong  could  lash  to  fiery  energy.  We 
see  him  as  he  looked  in  his  debates  with  Douglas, 
modestly  and  calmly  pursuing  his  opponent  with 
relentless  logic,  and  then,  revealing  in  splendid 
eloquence  the  golden  heart  of  his  theme.  In  an 
other  picture  he  appears  as  he  must  have  looked 
when,  for  the  last  time,  he  stood  in  Springfield, 
Illinois,  and  uttered  his  prophetic  words  of  farewell. 

There  is  one,  perhaps  the  first  taken  after  that 
little  girl  in  Buffalo,  New  York,  asked  him  to  grow  a 
beard.  One  pauses  long,  studying  picture  after 
picture,  each  telling  its  story,  each  filled  with  mean 
ing  for  him  who  has  learned  something  of  the 
career  of  our  martyred  President. 

Is  it  not  significant  that  in  every  civilized  lan 
guage  of  the  earth  one  can  read  of  this  Great  Ameri 
can.  Is  it  not  suggestive  of  his  place  in  history  to 
know  that,  though  he  died  at  the  close  of  the  Civil 
War,  of  him  more  books  have  probably  been  written 
than  of  any  other  man  who  ever  trod  this  world — 
save  only  the  founder  of  Christianity. 

The  thoughts  that  come  from  the  contemplation 
of  the  portraiture  in  the  dingy  hall  seem  to  prepare 
the  mind  for  entry  to  the  room  where  the  mortal 
and  the  immortal  parted  forever.  As  one  silently 
crosses  the  threshold  into  the  little  chamber,  he  is 
glad  that  in  so  simple  a  place — the  room  of  a 
Massachusetts  soldier— the  last  drama  of  Lincoln's 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


life  was  played.  There  in  the  corner  beside  the 
door  was  the  couch  where  came  the  kindly  final 
summons — taps  and  then  reveille.  Within  these 
walls  had  Stanton  said,  "Now  he  belongs  to  the 
ages." 

On  that  April  morning  in  1865,  the  great  were 
gathered  about  the  low  walnut  bed  in  this  house  of 
the  tailor,  William  Peterson.  Where  the  photo 
graph  of  Rosa  Bonheur's  "Horse  Fair"  hung,  now 
hangs  a  picture  of  the  death-bed  scene.  In  it  are 
shown  Mrs.  Lincoln;  the  Cabinet  members,  Welles 
and  Stanton ;  Generals  Halleck  and  Meigs ;  Surgeon 
General  Barnes;  William  Dennison;  Robert  Lin 
coln;  Charles  Sumner,  and  John  Hay.  Except  for 
this  picture,  the  room  is  bare.  At  this  shrine  no 
chancel  or  candelabra  are  needed.  To  worship  here 
the  devotee  needs  only  the  barren  floor. 

Beyond  this  room  is  found  another  in  which  are 
gathered  many  miscellaneous  articles  once  used  or 
owned  by  Abraham  Lincoln.  Here,  from  his  old 
Springfield  home,  is  a  kitchen  stove,  for  which  he 
often  carried  wood.  His  favorite  chair  stands  empty. 
In  this,  doubtless,  he  had  often  sat  engrossed  with 
those  thoughts  whose  utterance,  translated  into 
action,  changed  the  history  of  the  world. 

In  other  rooms  are  relics  of  his  assassination. 
These  have  only  a  gruesome  interest.  Lincoln  never 
would  have  chosen  these  to  whet  that  morbid 
curiosity  for  tokens  of  outrage  and  crime  which  is 
possessed  by  some  strange  minds.  His  natural  good 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


taste  and  his  forgiving  nature  would  have  hidden 
them  from  prying  eyes.  But  they  are  there,  like  a 
gunman's  murderous  weapon  laid  beside  the  tomb 
of  his  victim. 

Let  us  return  to  the  room  that  has  the  greatest 
appeal.  It  is  nine  by  seventeen  feet.  In  this  con 
fined  place  he  died.  In  a  small  cabin  in  Kentucky 
he  was  born.  Each  was  large  enough  for  such  great 
ness  as  was  his. 

Let  us  stand  here  for  a  time  and  think  of  the 
child  of  the  Kentucky  backwoods  who  said,  "A 
house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.  I  be 
lieve  this  government  cannot  endure  permanently 
half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union 
to  be  dissolved.  I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall, 
but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided." 

It  was  he  who  so  grounded  his  thought  that  he 
could  sincerely  appeal  to  a  New  York  audience  with 
these  words,  "Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes 
might,  and  in  that  faith  let  us  to  the  end  dare  to  do 
our  duty  as  we  understand  it." 

How  we  can  hear  again  those  words  of  political 
wisdom:  "You  can  fool  all  of  the  people  some  of 
the  time  and  some  of  the  people  all  the  time,  but 
you  cannot  fool  all  the  people  all  of  the  time." 

To  those  who  would  break  the  law  he  speaks: 
"Let  every  man  remember  that  to  violate  the 
law  is  to  trample  on  the  blood  of  his  father  and  to 
tear  the  charter  of  his  own  and  his  children's 
liberty."  Note  where  he  stood  on  the  question  of 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


toil :  "I  am  always  for  the  man  who  wishes  to  work." 
What  did  he  say  to  those  who  would  gain  for  them 
selves  by  taking  from  others?  He  spoke  thus:  "Let 
not  him  who  is  houseless  pull  down  the  house  of 
another,  but  let  him  work  diligently  and  build  one 
for  himself,  thus  by  example  assuring  that  his  own 
shall  be  safe  from  violence  when  built." 

Can  any  thinker  fail  to  say  amen  to  this:  "I  am 
not  much  of  a  judge  of  religion,  but,  in  my  opinion, 
the  religion  that  sets  men  to  rebel  and  fight  against 
their  government,  because,  as  they  think,  that  gov 
ernment  does  not  sufficiently  help  some  men  to  eat 
their  bread  in  the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces,  is  not 
the  sort  of  religion  upon  which  people  can  get  to 
heaven." 

Once  a  man  was  asked  the  explanation  for  his 
success  in  life.  He  answered,  "I  had  a  friend." 
Listen  to  these  words  of  Lincoln:  "The  better  part 
of  one's  life  consists  of  his  friendships;  the  loss 
of  enemies  does  not  compensate  for  the  loss  of 
friends." 

What  wisdom  is  in  this :  "It  is  better  only  some 
times  to  be  right  than  at  all  times  to  be  wrong." 

Will  statesmen  profit  by  reading  this  sentence 
from  Lincoln?  "Can  aliens  make  treaties  easier  than 
friends  can  make  laws?  Can  treaties  be  more  faith 
fully  enforced  between  aliens  than  laws  can  among 
friends?" 

Here  is  a  thought  that  all  should  ponder  well :  "It 
is  not  the  qualified  voters,  but  the  qualified  voters 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


who  choose  to  vote  that  constitute  the  political 
power  of  the  State." 

What  a  fund  of  sound,  homely  sayings  he  has 
left  us!  What  a  wealth  of  clearly  expressed 
thought!  His  life  is  an  inspiration  to  every  child 
born  or  reared  under  the  American  flag.  In  what 
other  country  in  this  world  could  genius  rise  from 
humble  beginnings  to  such  pre-eminence?  He,  with 
all  the  brave  souls  who  believed  in  and  followed 
him,  left  us  a  united  country,  forever  indissoluble. 
He  left  us  that  principle  written  in  heroic  blood  in 
our  fundamental  law  that  the  rights  of  citizens  are 
not  to  be  denied  on  account  of  race,  color  or  creed. 
These  rich  memories  are  revived  in  the  humble 
room  of  the  Washington  tailor's  house ;  from  it  one 
can  step  into  the  rich  sunshine  and  the  free  air, 
both  richer  and  freer  because  Abraham  Lincoln 
lived,  toiled  and  died. 

As  the  events  of  his  full  life  run  before  us,  we 
see  an  angular  child  making  his  way  from  the  land 
of  Boone  to  the  little  shack  erected  in  the  woodland 
of  Indiana.  There,  through  the  chinks  in  the  wall, 
the  night  wind's  song  came  to  the  rude  pallet  where 
lay  a  leader  of  men,  to  be.  We  see  him  in  sorrow 
when  his  mother  died.  With  him  we  watch  the  com 
ing,  with  her  wonderful  furniture,  of  the  stepmother, 
whose  work  for  all  time  should  be  an  example  for  all 
stepmothers.  We  see  him  poring  over  Weem's  Life 
of  Washington,  a  book  which  profoundly  helped 
him. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


We  watch  him  as  he  follows  the  ox-team  to  the 
new  home  in  Illinois.  We  go  with  him  down  the 
Mississippi,  and  know  his  agony  of  soul  as  he  stood 
by  the  slave  block  in  New  Orleans.  We  hear  the 
lusty  strokes  as  his  axe  rings  in  the  Illinois  clearing. 
We  see  him  enforce  respect  for  himself  at  New 
Salem.  We  grieve  with  him  at  the  bier  of  Ann 
Rutledge.  We  follow  him,  the  chosen  captain  of 
his  fellows,  in  the  Blackhawk  War.  We  see  him 
in  the  New  Salem  store,  and  under  the  trees  with 
him  we  read  Chitty  and  Blackstone.  We  carry  the 
chain  with  him  as  a  surveyor.  We  learn  of  his 
original  mind,  unprejudiced  and  unfettered  by  too 
many  books,  as  he  serves  as  a  lawyer  in  Springfield 
and  on  circuit.  We  watch  this  tall,  gaunt  giant  from 
the  West  as  he  sits  in  Congress.  We  travel  with 
him  through  those  memorable  debates  with  Douglas 
when  a  far-seeing  fate  kept  him  from  the  Senate 
and  saved  him  for  the  post  of  Chief  Magistrate  of 
the  nation.  We  sit  with  him  during  those  anxious 
days  of  the  Chicago  convention.  We  smile  as  we 
watch  his  face  light  up  when  the  news  of  his  nom 
ination  came  from  the  Chicago  "wigwam."  We 
await  the  result  of  the  fierce  election  contest,  with 
the  old  political  parties  rent  and  torn  with  section 
alism.  We  see  him  stand  serene  above  all  that  is 
petty  and  sordid.  We  hear  his  first  inaugural  ad 
dress  and  understand  his  plea  for  Union.  We  are 
by  him  in  the  terrible  days  and  nights  of  the  Civil 
War.  We  glory  in  his  gentle  strength  as  he  holds 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


himself  high  above  the  impetuosity  of  friends  and 
the  rancor  of  foes. 

We  hear  his  immortal  address  at  Gettysburg,  and 
think  over  those  lines  that  every  school  boy  should 
know.  We  see  hkn  patient  to  the  end  of  the  strife. 
"With  malice  toward  none  and  charity  for  all,"  he 
prepares  to  "bind  up  the  nations  wounds."  Then 
in  the  theatre  across  the  street  we  hear  the  fatal  shot. 
'Tis  a  soldier's  death  that  he  shall  die.  It  was  here 
they  brought  him.  This  is  the  very  spot — a  shrine 
in  which  nothing  is  but  hallowed  memories. 


Our  Supreme  Court 

"THE  REPUBLIC." 
From  "The  Building  of  the  Ship.5' 

"Thou,  too,  sail  on,  O  Ship  of  State! 

Sail  on,  O  Union,  strong  and  great! 

Humanity  with  all  its  fears, 

With  all  the  hopes  of  future  years, 

Is  hanging  breathless  on  thy  fate! 

We  know  what  Master  laid  thy  keel, 

What  Workmen  wrought  thy  ribs  of  steel, 

Who  made  each  mast,  and  sail,  and  rope, 

What  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat, 

In  what  a  forge  and  what  a  heat 

Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  thy  hope! 

Fear  not  each  sudden  sound  and  shock, 

'Tis  of  the  wave  and  not  the  rock; 

'Tis  but  the  flapping  of  the  sail, 

And  not  a  rent  made  by  the  gale! 

In  spite  of  rock  and  tempest's  roar, 

In  spite  of  false  lights  on  the  shore, 

Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea! 

Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  are  all  with  thee, 

Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 

Our  faith  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 

Are  all  with  thee,— are  all  with  thee!" 

— Henry    Wadsworth    Longfellow. 

IT  is  well  for  Americans  to  remember  that  ours 
is  by  no  means  the  first  republic  in  the  world's 
history;  we  have  existed  under  our  Constitution 
only  since  1 789.  The  Venetian  Republic  endured  for 
eleven  hundred  years;  the  Roman  Republic  for  five 
hundred  years;  the  Athenian  Republic,  with  a  few 


OUR  SUPREME  COURT 


interruptions,  for  nine  hundred  years;  and  the 
Carthaginian  Republic  for  seven  hundred  years. 
Other  republics,  such  as  those  of  Genoa  and  Flor 
ence,  lived  long.  All  of  these  failed  primarily  on 
account  of  the  tendency  of  men  granted  great  power, 
even  in  republics,  to  arrogate  unto  themselves  more 
power. 

To  illustrate:  You  will  remember  that  Caesar, 
who  undertook  to  gain  for  the  Roman  people  their 
rights  against  the  Roman  Senate,  himself  became 
the  master  both  of  the  Roman  people  and  of  the 
Roman  Senate.  Cromwell,  who  espoused  the  cause 
of  popular  rights  in  England,  himself  became  the 
dictator  of  England;  and  Napoleon,  who  undertook 
to  spread  the  liberty  won  by  the  French  Revolution, 
himself  became  the  Emperor  of  France  and  sought 
to  become  the  Emperor  of  all  Europe. 

As  the  Roman  Republic  fell  before  the  ambitions 
of  one  man,  the  Venetian  democracy  finally  fell  be 
fore  the  Doges;  Carthage  became  a  victim  to  the 
ambitions  of  military  men;  the  Republic  of  Genoa 
fell  before  an  autocracy;  the  Republic  of  Florence 
succumbed  to  the  ambitions  of  the  Medici,  and  all 
the  republics  of  the  dim  past  ultimately  became  des 
potisms  or  monarchies. 

It  is  interesting  for  us  to  inquire  what  institutions 
in  our  republican  form  of  government  differ  from  the 
institutions  of  other  republican  governments  that 
have  existed,  to  determine,  if  we  can,  if  there  be  any 
that  promise  perpetuity  for  the  government  of  the 


OUR  SUPREME  COURT 


United  States.  There  are  many  such  institutions, 
but  it  is  our  purpose  in  this  discussion  to  call  atten 
tion  only  to  one — our  Supreme  Court. 

Before  pointing  out  the  unique  position  of  that 
court  among  institutions,  we  wish  to  analyze  briefly 
the  meaning  and  origin  of  some  of  those  human 
rights  that  our  Supreme  Court  is  designed  to  pro 
tect.  In  the  Magna  Charta,  which  the  barons 
wrested  from  King  John  of  England,  appear  three 
Latin  words,  coined  by  whom  we  do  not  know,  by 
whom  written  we  do  not  know — three  words  that 
expressed  for  the  first  time  a  thought  that  was 
pregnant  with  meaning  for  governments  upon  this 
earth.  Those  words  are  per  legem  terrae  (by  the 
law  of  the  land) — not  meaning  the  law  established 
by  and  getting  its  power  from  government,  but  that 
law  which  runs  with  the  land,  meaning  the  source  of 
those  rights  that  are  the  foundation,  and  not  the 
grant,  of  government;  that  law  which  recognizes 
rights  in  the  individual  that  are  higher  than  govern 
ment  and  higher  than  any  act  of  government; 
natural  rights,  or  rights  that  are  possessed  by  men 
from  the  very  fact  of  birth;  rights  coming  from  a 
far  higher  source  than  legislatures  or  courts. 

That  same  conception  of  human  rights  is  found 
again  in  our  Declaration  of  Independence,  where  it 
is  said  that  men  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with 
certain  inalienable  rights,  that  among  these  are  the 
right  to  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  and 
further,  that  to  secure — that  is,  to  make  safe — these 


OUR  SUPREME  COURT 


rights,  governments  are  instituted  among  men,  de 
riving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed.  The  thought  is  that  the  right  to  life  in 
cludes  the  right  to  the  security  of  one's  person,  of 
health,  of  the  right  to  obtain  a  livelihood  and  of  the 
security  to  character.  The  right  to  liberty  and  to 
the  pursuit  of  happiness  means  the  tight  to  go,  or 
to  stay,  unmolested — the  right  to  enjoy  family  rela 
tions,  the  right  to  work,  the  right  to  engage  in 
honest  business,  the  right  to  innocent  recreation, 
the  right  to  freedom  of  opinion,  to  freely  speak  and 
write  the  truth,  to  freedom  of  worship,  and  to  the 
right  of  property.  In  short,  liberty  means  the  en 
joyment  of  these  fundamental  rights  to  their  fullest 
extent,  and  government  does  not  give  these  rights, 
and  is  not  designed  to  grant  them,  but  is  merely  an 
instrument  to  secure  and  to  protect  them.  This 
thought  is  quite  the  opposite  of  the  theory  of  the 
divine  right  of  kings.  It  is  the  theory  of  democracy, 
where  the  highest  law  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  grace 
or  will  of  a  monarch  or  in  the  will  of  any  man. 

Any  democratic  form  of  government  to  ade 
quately  secure  these  rights  must  necessarily  be 
somewhat  complicated.  The  simplest  form  of  gov 
ernment  is  an  absolute  despotism.  In  a  democratic 
government,  simple  forms  will  not  suffice,  for  a 
democratic  government  in  order  to  endure  should 
provide  some  means  for  guarding  the  fundamental 
rights  of  people  against  invasion,  not  only  by  in 
dividuals  but  against  invasion  by  the  government 


OUR  SUPREME  COURT 


itself.  The  primary  complaint  of  our  Revolutionary 
forefathers  against  the  mother  country  was  a  com 
plaint  against  the  usurpation  of  rights  by  the  British 
Parliament.  The  Crown  had  granted  to  the  colonies 
charters,  some  of  which  recognized  and  some  of 
which  created  popular  assemblies,  and  the  Ameri 
cans  denied  the  right  of  the  English  Parliament  to 
legislate  for  them  or  to  invade  any  of  their  funda 
mental  rights.  So,  in  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence  no  address  was  made  to  Parliament,  but 
address  and  complaints  were  made  directly  to  the 
Crown. 

As  we  have  just  said,  democratic  government 
must  be  more  complicated  than  a  despotism  or  an 
absolute  monarchy,  and  so  in  our  form  of  govern 
ment,  to  protect  against  hasty  action  on  the  part  of 
our  government  agencies,  even  in  those  fields  that 
were  given  to  governmental  control,  we  introduced 
a  system  of  checks  and  balances.  For  instance,  the 
President,  who  is  the  head  of  the  Executive  De 
partment,  is  the  commander  in  chief  of  the  army 
and  navy,  but  in  order  that  he  may  not  arrogate 
unto  himself  monarchical  powers,  the  right  to  de 
clare  war  is  vested  in  the  Congress.  In  order  that 
he  may  not  become  a  despot  as  commander  in  chief 
of  the  army  and  navy,  all  power  to  raise  revenue  is 
reposed  in  the  Congress,  and  in  that  Congress  such 
measures  must  originate  in  the  most  popular  branch 
thereof — the  House  of  Representatives.  Neither 
branch  of  Congress  can  pass  a  law  without  the  con- 


OUR  SUPREME  COURT 


currence  of  the  other  and  of  the  President,  in  whose 
hands  a  veto  power  is  placed;  but  in  order  that  the 
veto  power  may  not  be  abused,  power  is  given  the 
Congress  to  pass  a  bill  over  the  President's  veto. 
Next,  there  is  our  unique  Judicial  Department, 
headed  by  the  Supreme  Court.  It  is  the  only  court 
in  the  world  today,  or  in  the  world's  history,  that 
is  in  fact  "supreme" — the  only  court  that  has  the 
power  to  declare  null  and  void  an  action  of  the 
Executive  Department  or  an  act  of  the  Legislative 
Department;  a  power  that  it,  itself,  must  exercise 
in  accordance  with  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land, 
as  found  in  the  Federal  Constitution. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  discuss  the  various  powers 
of  the  Supreme  Court.  We  will  not  detail  the 
methods  of  enforcing  the  limitation  of  powers 
placed  upon  political  government  or  in  settling  the 
conflicting  claims  of  states.  We  will  not  discuss  its 
great  appellate  jurisdiction,  nor  will  we  enter  into 
an  analysis  of  its  very  important  original  jurisdic 
tion.  The  point  to  which  we  wish  to  direct  attention 
is  generally  to  its  function  as  the  defender  and 
expounder  of  the  Constitution.  Its  position  in  this 
regard,  and  in  regulating  the  dual  sovereignty  over 
the  same  territory  of  Federal  and  of  State  govern 
ments,  are  the  two  most  unusual  features  in  Ameri 
can  political  institutions. 

Our  Constitution  fixes  and  limits  the  powers  of 
the  Federal  Government.  Subservient  to  the  limita 
tions  of  the  Constitution  in  certain  spheres  the 


OUR  SUPREME  COURT 


Federal  Government  is  supreme,  and  in  other  fields 
the  state  governments  are  supreme.  The  Constitu 
tion  provides  for  certain  forms  of  government,  but 
in  addition  to  this  it  guarantees  to  individuals  their 
fundamental  rights  and  makes  the  Supreme  Court 
the  arbiter  and  protector  of  those  rights,  whether 
they  are  invaded  by  other  individuals,  by  a  class  of 
individuals,  by  a  state  government,  by  a  federal  con 
gress,  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  or  by 
anybody  or  any  power.  Those  fundamental  rights, 
briefly  expressed  in  our  Declaration  of  Independence 
as  the  right  to  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happi 
ness,  form  the  bulwarks  of  our  liberty,  and  if  an 
American  should  be  asked  to  give  one  sound  reason 
why  the  boasted  liberty  of  the  United  States  is 
superior  to  that  claimed  for  any  other  government, 
he  can  very  confidently  answer  that  it  is  because  the 
guarantee  of  fundamental  individual  rights  is  found 
in  a  written  instrument  whose  basis  is  popular 
sovereignty — an  instrument  that  secures  those 
rights  against  all  violation,  even  against  violation 
by  government  itself,  and  that  the  power  to  guard 
and  interpret  those  rights  is  placed  in  a  court  that 
is  in  fact  supreme — a  court  that  controls  the  con 
duct  of  all  other  branches  of  government  and  that 
is  designed  forever  zealously  and  impartially  to 
protect  the  security  of  those  rights  against  any 
aggression  whatsoever. 

Now,  how  does  it  come  about  that  the  Supreme 
Court  is  the  guardian  of  the  fundamental  rights  of 


OUR  SUPREME  COURT 


individuals?  Does  the  Constitution  anywhere  say 
that  the  Supreme  Court  shall  guard  the  rights  of 
individuals  to  life,  to  liberty,  the  right  to  the  pur 
suit  of  happiness,  and  all  that  this  means?  It  does 
not;  but  the  Constitution  first  guarantees  certain 
fundamental  rights.  For  instance,  it  provides  that 
Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  the  establish 
ment  of  religion  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise 
thereof.  It  guarantees  freedom  of  speech.  It  guar 
antees  the  right  of  people  peaceably  to  assemble ;  the 
right  to  petition  the  government  for  redress  of  griev 
ances,  and  the  security  of  people  in  their  persons 
and  in  their  houses,  papers  and  effects  against  un 
reasonable  search  and  seizure.  It  guarantees  trial 
by  jury,  also  that  no  person  shall  in  a  criminal  case 
be  compelled  to  be  a  witness  against  himself,  that 
no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty  or  prop 
erty  without  due  process  of  law,  and  that  private 
property  shall  not  be  taken  for  public  use  without 
just  compensation.  It  guarantees  these  and  many 
other  rights  specifically  in  the  Bill  of  Rights,  as  the 
first  ten  amendments  are  commonly  called  by 
Americans,  and  by  implication  originally  and  now 
it  guarantees  these  and  all  of  the  fundamental  rights. 
By  its  Sixth  Article,  the  Constitution  is  made  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land,  and  it  is  the  law  of  the 
land  as  far  as  inherent  rights  are  concerned,  in  the 
same  sense  in  which  that  term  was  used  in  the 
Magna  Charta.  By  Article  Three  of  the  Constitu 
tion  the  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  is 


OUR  SUPREME  COURT 


vested  in  the  Supreme  Court  and  in  such  inferior 
courts  as  Congress  may  establish;  the  Supreme 
Court  in  administering  the  law  must  interpret  it  in 
the  light  of  the  Constitution,  which  places  the  fun 
damental  rights  of  individuals  above  the  power  of 
the  Legislative  Department  to  take  away,  above  the 
power  of  the  Executive  Department  to  invade,  and 
above  all  power  except  that  of  the  people  them 
selves,  who  can  limit  or  abandon  their  rights  only 
through  amending  the  Constitution. 

The  thought  found  in  these  institutions  goes  far 
beyond  that  embodied  in  any  other  government  on 
earth.  The  English  government  never  went  so  far. 
Under  the  English  system  of  government  the  Par 
liament,  or  legislature,  is  supreme ;  the  Judicial  De 
partment  is  only  a  subservient  branch  of  govern 
ment, — having  no  power  to  declare  any  law  un 
constitutional,  no  matter  how  seriously  it  may 
invade  the  fundamental  rights  of  individuals.  Par 
liament  is  the  supreme  power.  It  can  repeal  any 
law.  It  can  repeal  Magna  Charta  itself,  or  the  Act 
of  Settlement,  or  any  of  the  governmental  acts  de 
signed  to  secure  to  English  citizens  their  funda 
mental  rights.  Under  our  government  no  such 
power  resides  in  the  legislature  or  in  the  executives 
or  in  the  courts.  We  have  rights  above  government, 
rights  that  run  with  the  land,  rights  that  exist  be 
cause  people  are  born  with  them. 

The  experience  of  our  Revolutionary  forefathers 
taught  them  that  representative  government  as  then 


OUR  SUPREME  COURT 


existing  in  the  world  could  not  always  be  depended 
upon  to  secure  to  human  beings  their  fundamental 
rights,  so  in  founding  our  government  they  not  only 
devised  a  system  of  checks  and  balances  to  prevent 
the  lodgement  of  too  great  power  in  one  man  or  in 
any  one  group  of  men,  but  they  placed  our  funda 
mental  rights  in  theory  and  in  fact  above  the  power 
of  government  to  invade.  To  interpret  and  secure 
those  rights  they  established  a  court  that  is  in  fact 
supreme.  Having  thus  created  for  the  first  time  in 
the  world's  history  a  really  popular  government 
where  the  source  of  rights  is  in  the  people  them 
selves,  and  in  them  because  they  are  born  with 
those  rights,  and  are  retained  by  them  as  against  the 
government  which  they  established,  we  took  an 
other  step  and  protected  ourselves  against  hasty  or 
ill-considered  action  by  making  it  impossible  to  cur 
tail  any  of  these  fundamental  rights  even  in  exer 
cising  our  power  as  sovereigns  over  ourselves,  ex 
cept  it  be  done  through  the  machinery  that  the 
Constitution  provides  for  amending  the  fundamental 
law.  So,  of  the  unique  and  beneficial  American  in 
stitutions  designed  to  give  to  men  the  full  enjoy 
ment  of  those  rights  which  are  theirs  by  reason  of 
their  birth,  our  Supreme  Court  stands  as  a  powerful 
instrument  designed  to  protect  them  through  its 
function  as  the  defender  of  the  Constitution. 


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